To say I’m a fan of puzzle games is putting it pretty lightly. When I heard about Ichi being a neat new take on puzzlers, I was quite excited to try it out. I wasn’t disappointed.
Ichi is a universal app, which is just the first of the many feathers in its cap. The game features minimalist, crayon-drawn graphics that are very soothing, as well as cute, quiet music. It’s a rather nice choice for a game in this genre.
The object of the game is to bounce the ball from its starting position to collide with (and collect) all the rings by rotating the red triangles. The first tap on the screen will start the ball moving and each tap afterward rotates all the red triangles by 90° in a clockwise direction. As long as you finish the level, the next one will open, but the game encourages you to do it in as few rotations as possible and gives you a letter grade based on how well you did.
As the game progresses, new pitfalls begin to show up. First, there are spikes that will pop your ball if it comes in contact with them. Then, you’ll find blocks that shatter when you bounce off of them, making you have to send the ball in their direction more than once. The further you go, the more of these kinds of traps you’ll see, really adding to the difficulty factor. And it’s not just solely about solving them, so you’ll be racking your brain on how you could have possibly solved them in fewer moves than you did.
The game features 48 pre-made levels right off the bat, but also includes a in-app level designer. Your levels are available for anyone to play online, and you can play anyone else’s as well, giving Ichi almost infinite replay value and ensuring that I won’t be finished with it any time soon.
In Conclusion
If you’re a fan of puzzle games, be sure to pick up Ichi for just 99¢. Between its simple concept and complex combination of options, you won’t ever have a chance to be bored with it.
