Tangram Style Review

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Casting aside the obvious play on the song title of PSY’s sensational viral hit, Moving Player’s Nintendo eShop debut is a leisurely and yet enjoyable puzzle experience for players to master.

Tangram Style takes inspiration from the mind-bending Chinese puzzle, with the concept being incredibly easy to grasp by players of all ages. Handed seven shapes, known as tans, the player must slot them neatly together to form a designated picture.

Inadvertently, those that have played any recent Professor Layton entry will have more than likely already completed a tangram puzzle, one such instance seeing you align pieces to form the adventuring academic’s top hat.

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It’s simple to explain and yet deftly challenging in execution, Moving Player switching things up with four different styles of approach. Classic mode sees you play normally, fumbling with your tans until they fit or the solution suddenly becomes apparent before your very eyes. Challenge mode adds a time limit to this, the player racing to complete 10 tangrams before a gate closes, whereas One-Touch mode poses an even greater risk with you only being able to place each piece once and without error.

For younger players the additional Child mode grants a more supportive experience, allowing them to familiarise themselves with what precisely is required of them. Whilst there’s barely any challenge flexed at the player it’s an accessible start to finding your feet, with coloured tans simply needing to be matched up with their relevant, coloured spot in the puzzle. Ultimately turning everything into a paint-by-numbers… or shapes, that is.

Progression across any mode rewards you with Mayan totems that unlock additional tangrams for you to tackle, and with the game boasting 612 tangrams to solve there’s certainly plenty to sink your teeth into. Whilst there’s no variety beyond completing a relentless assault of tangrams, it’s still open to quick burst play from time to time when you want to give yourself a mental challenge.

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Control input is suitably swift, with players manoeuvring pieces at a mere drag of the stylus. Flipping them requires you to simply tap twice, whilst each corner acts as a swivel point for you to rotate them into position. Tans flash red when they aren’t positioned correctly, at times requiring you to align them more snugly than you’d perhaps expect.

Needless to say, Tangram Style won’t appeal to all but amounts to being a promising start for Moving Player’s Nintendo eShop output. Those looking for geometrical riddles to test their brain will find much to enjoy here, though those that don’t won’t suddenly find themselves a puzzle convert.

Version Tested: Nintendo 3DS
Review copy provided by Moving Player

8/10
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