One of the fun things about interactive computer games is that they
can provide a new way to enjoy an old pastime. Last fall, I enjoyed SouthPeak’s
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom game, and I admired
the way the “board game” concept had so adeptly been ported to the computer
format.

Wrebbit has done a similar neat feat with its Puzz3D series.
It has taken a treasured, age-old activity–the jigsaw puzzle–and reinvented
it for the computer. And I’m pleased to report that it has done so with creativity,
beauty, and elegance.

The first terrific feature about these packages is
that you can choose four different difficulty levels, each one featuring a different
number of puzzle pieces and help features. For the jigsaw-challenged, like me,
there’s the bunny-slope 250-piece puzzle with lots of helpful resources, and the
other end of the spectrum is an 835-piece “super challenging” puzzle
without many hints at all.

As the title suggests, the puzzles are all three-dimensional
objects–a Victorian Mansion, Bavarian Castle, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Orient
Express. I’ve just completed the first two, and I’ve got to tell you, these are
delightful software packages.

How nice to be able to play with a jigsaw
puzzle without worrying about lost or missing pieces! Without having to turn every
piece face-up manually! Without an easy way to sort and store pieces!

Puzz3D
wraps up the entire jigsaw experience in a package that oozes elegance and
good design from stem to stern.

First of all, the pieces are all beautifully
laid out on a huge, round table. Movement around the table is as easy as clicking
your mouse near screen’s edge. You can also look at the pieces in three different
degrees of closeup. Whenever you join two pieces, there is a satisfying “click”
sound. When you complete an entire section, you can remove it from the table and
place it onto the three-dimensional model.

With the push of a button you
can also get a wealth of statistics on your progress: how long you’ve been working,
how many pieces you’ve assembled, how many sections you’ve completed, etc.

At
various points you can click on a button to get a quick video scene about the
puzzle, and these clips are entertaining and informative.

A truly terrific
feature of these puzzles is that, when you finish the actual puzzle, the fun is
only just beginning. At this point, Puzz3D actually becomes a mini-adventure
game! The adventure is first introduced when you begin the puzzle, and after placing
the last piece, the story continues.

In Victorian Mansion, you’re
unraveling a years-old murder mystery by solving puzzles and gathering clues.
In Bavarian Castle, you’re helping characters from Wagnerian operas find
that elusive happy ending.

Each game’s adventure sequence consists of three
puzzles, one larger overall puzzle, and several video sequences that move the
story along. I enjoyed the videos more than I expected, especially in Bavarian
Castle, because they actually had a terrific sense of humor. Actors playing
characters such as Siegmund and Sieglinde stare balefully into the camera and
plead, “You’ve got to help us! You see, no couple has ever made it out of
a Wagner opera alive!”

One side note: After Bavarian Castle and
The Beast Within, I truly feel like I’ve actually been to Neuschwanstein
Castle. When I actually do visit, I won’t need a tour guide!

Let’s be frank.
This review is a no-brainer. Stop reading and order Puzz3D. I’d write more,
but I’m eager to get back the brand-new Orient Express. This one I’m doing
on the hardest setting. Wish me luck!

Final Grade: A+

If
you liked these games:
Watch: The Woman in White
Read:
The Blackheath Poisonings by Julian Symons
Play: Gabriel
Knight 2: The Beast Within

System Requirements:

Windows 95/98:
Pentium 100 MHz (200
MHz recommended)
16 MB of Ram (24 MB recommended)
Microsoft-compatible
mouse
45 MB free hard disk space
640×480, 16-bit colors, DirectX certified
video driver (1 MB of cache video memory recommended)
2X CD-ROM drive (minimum)

Direct Sound compatible sound card
Note: Windows 95 virtual memory should
be on

Mac OS:
MacOS 7.5 or higher

PowerPC 80 MHz (200 MHz recommended)
20 MB of RAM (32 MB recommended)

32 MB free hard disk space
640×480, 16-bit colors video and display
2X
CD-ROM drive (minimum)