Ichi’ Review — Puzzles Probably Can’t Get Much Better Than This

‘Ichi’ Review — Puzzles Probably Can’t Get Much Better Than This
Although mobile games have become a huge business, it’s not every day that one receives the same treatment as its bigger ‘hardcore’ brothers.

Although mobile games have become a huge business, it’s not every day that one receives the same treatment as its bigger ‘hardcore’ brothers. Mobile versions of multi-platform games are normally stripped down and released six months following a successful console launch. But there are some rare exceptions that we hold dear. Ichi is marked for not only a near-simultaneous launch and identical experience of its PC and Mac versions, but also, and more importantly, for a slick idea that will captivate any indie videogame geek.

Ichi (which, in case you’re wondering, is the Japanese word for “one”) is as simple as the number one, and as elegant as Japanese gets: solving a brain-twisting puzzle with one single button. And that’s exactly the only thing you will be doing in the game. Your task is short and clear: drive a ball over a piece of graph paper to collect all the golden rings. There is no story, setting, or character to speak of. All you have is a piece graph paper with sketch drawings that feel reminiscent of brainstorming ideas and unleashing imagination. Which is what you will have to do quite a bit. You will be staring into the paper, imagining how that yellow spot will fly, and trying to figure out what you could do to take it to where it needs to go.

As aforementioned, only one single button (tapping in the case of your touchscreen devices) is used to play the game, which will fail to overwhelm even the first-time gamers. A select number of objects in a level will be at your disposal to control. Tapping the screen will cause all of these objects to react according to their own behavior. One of the earliest and most basic controls involves spinning right isosceles triangles clockwise, which will alter the ball’s travel path depending the impact surface. Additional objects and features come at a slow pace, which gives you time to learn and master the techniques. The game is saved from turning repetitive thanks to immense possibilities and great level design.

Ichi manages to maintain a great balance of fun and challenges. While fun and rather easy to learn, a certain amount of precision and strategy is required. Certain levels are challenging in terms of execution, but once you succeed and accomplish your goal, it’s satisfying. Even getting stuck is never a frustration, thanks to hassle-free restarting, and the ability to skip two levels and come back later. (A $0.99 in-app purchase that unlocks all the levels is available on iOS, but absent from Android.) It’s possible to go the long and safe way, but the game rewards you with ranks for getting all the rings with the least number of taps. It’s not a particularly neuron-wrecking experience, but doesn’t think lowly of its players’ intelligence either.

As mentioned, Ichi keeps it minimal with graph paper and sketch drawing. Being a puzzle game that requires you to stare the same spot and think with a clear mind, the game could have been excellently supplemented by ambient or more minimal background music. Unfortunately, the only music to be found was an upbeat and cheerful track that turns especially repetitive when you get stuck long on a level.

While the main content of the game is rather short at only 54 levels (with four additional slots reserved for “coming soon”), you can have plenty of more fun with its community. The system of user-created levels is well-managed and populated with quality and quantity (there were over 1000 at the time of writing) with searching made easy thanks to sorting preferences. Naturally, a level editor tool is available for you to join the fun with the rest of the world. Its interface is well-designed with great user-friendliness and useful testing tool. While the small size and the space requirement for certain objects do limit your inspiration to a degree, it’s definitely a plus for the game.

Describing Ichi in one word is a difficult task, considering the feats it has achieved. For one, it lets everyone enjoy its fun, and on the other hand, rewards the more advanced crowd with strategic puzzle and precise execution.  It’s a cocktail mixed with a satisfactory amount of simplicity and complexity, accessibility and challenges, fast-paced action and thoughtful zen. Whoever you are, teens or adults, casual gamer or indie geeks, you are bound to have a good time with Ichi .

[review pros=”Accessible one-button gameplay, enjoyable challenging puzzles, user-friendly level creator tool and great community” cons=”Music not supplementary for zen thinking, some limits in the editor tool” score=85]

For more information, visit the game’s official website. Ichi can b e purchased on iOS App Storeand Android Google Playfor $0.99. A near identical version is also available on PC and Mac.