User Review : Echochrome 2

More Escher-based Fun!

The M.C. Escher-inspired and slightly pretentious, impossible figures, puzzle game is back and with an additional twist: light and shadow! Yes, echochrome ii adds Move support and scraps the monochromatic style of the previous installation, for a more colorful and playful shadow puppet-like game.

Fortunately, the concept of manipulating and creating traversable figures through the use of some exterior source is constant. In echochrome ii, however, the player uses the Move controller as a flashlight and directs the angle of the light on the objects by moving the controller from side-to-side, or up and down. Contrary to the previous installment, echochrome ii adds two additional gameplay modes to the original "echo" mode. "Color" and "Escort" are the new modes which require the player to color a certain number of blocks by the movement of the character and lead the character to a finish point created by the superimposition of two, particular shadows, respectively.

The basic concept of echochrome ii's "Escort" mode is rather interesting. At the beginning of each level, the structure of the level seems random an odd. But, as you manipulate the shadows, a path to the goal becomes apparent. The goal is constructed by moving the shadow of a sphere on top of an oblong rectangular prism to create a door that leads to a staircase (sounds crazy, but true).
For "Color" mode, three echos drop and begin traversing the level. Their movements color blocks and the objects in the level will turn to the respective color of the echos. The objective is to color a certain percentage of the level with the color provided.

I think the most difficult part about echochrome ii is using the Move with finesse. No seriously, one erratic swing and you can easily drop your echo(s) in a nebulous pit or squash them to nothingness. This game demands that you slowly move the controller around to get a sense of how to manipulate the shadows in order to achieve success. The Move is so accurate that minute adjustments of the wrist are best for this game.

Keeping attributes of the previous installment, echochrome ii provides the player with creation tools, so you can build your own levels, and online sharing, so you can play levels other psychotic users have created (yay!). Thus, this game is practically infinite and utilizes a ton of brain power consumption - hopefully more than your average sudoku. Furthermore, echochrome ii has the ostentatious, avant-garde (well at least I like to think of it as that), classical music to butter you up and make you feel oh so special and haughty.

Containing a myriad of levels (you'll have to unlock as you play), echochrome ii will have your cephalic tissues working: and working hard. As a side note, Japan Studios had to make this one cuter, so they added a Shadow Gallery. Many levels contain secret shadow images which you have to uncover by manipulating the shadows to the point in that they a make an image, like a rabbit and a turtle in the aptly named "Fabled Racers" level. This makes the game infinitely better!

If you've overdosed on the first echochrome and are looking for a gateway to the Move controller, then echochrome ii is absolutely for you. If not, echochrome ii is a great puzzle game and has a 70% chance of being just for you. That final statistic was actual BS, purchase echochrome ii if you love puzzles.