Puzzle corner:        Backstreet Boys

                      Reviewed by Sue

A few issues ago I reviewed VidGrid, a puzzle game where you had
to unscramble a range of mixed up music video clips from different
artists, against the clock. Backstreet Boys is a similar program
but it just uses clips of the aforementioned group. It's produced
by Ravensburger who are well known for their traditional jigsaw
puzzles.

The program contains 12 jumbled clips over 3 difficulty levels.
You can vary the number of pieces between 12, 20 or 30 pieces. The
default is 20 pieces so that's what I stuck to. On the easiest
level, you just have to unshuffle them. On the second level, some
of the pieces are rotated and on the third level some of them are
reversed.  This is quite a challenge for some clips. If you solve
all 12 puzzles on one level, then you can play the extra
'challenge' puzzle, number 13.  This has the added complication of
the pieces reshuffling while you play. This confused me at first
(it doesn't take much). How the heck was I supposed to move
quickly enough to complete the puzzle if the pieces reshuffled
every 5 seconds or so? The answer slowly became clear ... if a
piece is moved to the correct place, it doesn't get shuffled, so
you can gradually whittle away at the puzzle.

There is a scoring system, based on how many moves you take to
solve the puzzle. The time taken is also shown and you can post
your 'challenge' scores on Ravensburger's web site to see who is
fastest. If you get stuck you can have a hint (a preview of the
finished puzzle) or a cheat (one piece goes into the correct
place). I did this once when, for some reason which I couldn't
fathom, a level 3 puzzle didn't finish. I found, when I selected
'hint' that I'd completed the whole picture as a mirror image!

Each of the 13 puzzles, including the 'challenge' one, uses a
different video. Unlike VidGrid you don't get the whole video,
just a snippet of maybe 3 or 4 seconds which repeats. This makes
it easier in many ways because you can quickly latch onto the
cycle of the pattern, but it also makes it less interesting. The
music cycles too, just a short snippet of one of the Backstreet
Boys's hits. I'll admit that I'm not especially a fan of theirs,
but since playing this game I have found it really hard to get
some of these little glimpses of their songs out of my head.

I preferred this to VidGrid because I could tell from early on
that I would be able to finish it, unlike VidGrid which had ALL
sliding block puzzles on one level which completely got me stuck.
The controls are a bit fiddly - I found it very easy to rotate a
piece when I meant to move it. But apart from that minor point, I
really enjoyed it. I bought my copy for a fiver in Makro but it
would be worth it at twice the price, especially if you go back
and replay some levels using different puzzle pieces or shapes, or
try to beat your previous time.





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