Each day until Christmas we’re picking some of our favourite apps to make the festive season a little easier. Today we’re looking at Dream of Pixels; a beautiful iOS game which takes the concept of Tetris and turns it on its head, literally.
Despite the plethora of board games likely to make an appearance in the presence of your friends and family this winter, Dream of Pixels offers a relaxing escape with its distinctive art style and audio direction. Classic mode sees the player break down layers of ‘cloud’ down into smaller tetromino shapes in order to clear the screen. With the cloud constantly progressing down the screen, the aim is to clear as many horizontal lines as possible, before the first piece of cloud reaches the base of the screen.
The player’s actions affect the soundscape with soothing tones and chimes reinforcing the light, airy aesthetic. Players struggling to keep the cloud at bay will grow all too familiar of the rushing water sound used to warn the player that ‘Game Over’ may be just around the corner.
Along with its distinctive audio design, Dream of Pixels features striking visuals, with living watercolour which shifts as the game goes on. Touching the screen makes the colours bleed into each other and when stray piece of cloud rejoin the main section, it’s as if the player has washed two shades together on canvas. It gives the game a sense of tranquillity and mirrors the soothing nature of the title’s soundscape.
Beyond Classic mode there are in fact five other game types to choose from. Tutorial, as you’d expect teaches the basic mechanics of the game involving how players can effectively rotate pieces, not unlike classic Tetris and how to score bonus points by releasing special glowing tetrominoes. The difficulty can then be ramped up by choosing to play Pro mode which starts with the cloud drifting down the screen at a faster pace from the get go, but grants the player more points in the process.
Nightmare mode, which starts the game with floating pieces already on screen and Shattered Dream which starts the game with holes already laid into the main cloud. The one other distinctive mode is puzzle mode, where the player must deconstruct one of 50 different images made out of tetrominoes. There’s no time limit, simply your logic at work here. It’s a fun and interesting element that feels distinctly different to the rest of the game.
Dream of Pixels is available for £1.99 on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
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