PixlBit

Sometimes the simplest ideas can prove the most difficult but also the most satisfying. Take the iOS puzzle game Cyro, for instance. There’s some story about little creatures trying to build a bridge to the moon but what it all really comes down to is guiding a plank through a maze. Of course, the mazes are extremely intricate and, oh yeah, the plank is constantly rotating. You can bump the wall once and keep going but twice and it’s back to the beginning or the most recent checkpoint. Checkpoints are a godsend because they also restore your one hit point. The developer, thankfully, made it easy to control the plank. A circular d-pad on the left lets you easily move in any direction while a button on the right will restrict your movements to the four cardinal directions. And though the graphics are very minimalistic (nothing wrong with that), I love how much fun the developer had making the mazes. I’ve played the first two “worlds” and rarely has anything been abstract. One maze looked like wine being poured into a glass. Another was shaped like a human heart, complete with working valves! The dynamic mazes can be pretty tricky. I was stuck for a while on one that had moving gears that left little space to get through. Still, it’s very satisfying to best a tricky level. Cyro is a strange game but certainly a fun one.