Levels+: Addictive Puzzle Game (Nintendo Switch) Review

The battlefield can be messy, but not in Levels+, since it keeps everything clean and tidy for the sake of easing anyone into the upcoming fight. There are monsters working their way into the fray, hoping to conquer your forces and prevent treasure from being accrued. That is the gist of the action, anyway, in what is a basic colour-matching effort. There are three colours of squares on the play area; red, yellow, and blue. Reds are the enemy fighters, yellows are the treasure to be collected, and blue are allied warriors. The aim is to prevent the reds from taking full control of the board by using blues to destroy them in a swift horizontal or vertical movement (using standard controls or the touch screen).

However, each coloured tile has a number and only numbers of the same amount or higher can remove the adjacent block. Boosting the figure higher comes from joining neighbouring blocks of the same colour and number (players do not control reds), starting from bringing two 'ones' together to form a "two" and then working it so that another two is formed and touches the first one, allowing them to be combined to make a "three" - and so the pattern goes on, with careful manipulation of the board needed as higher levels are quickly required to combat the higher-powered reds that pop onto the screen as tiles disappear to form new ones (since, for instance, two "twos" becoming one "three" leaves a gap to be filled). With no time limit enforced, and a pleasant chiptune theme that grows in stature are new number levels are reached, as well as an auto-save function that means play can be stopped whenever without losing a round, this is the perfect time waster for puzzle fans.

It sounds like there is nothing to it, but very quickly the quest for power takes over and beating down the hordes of red enemies that keep swarming onto the field proves to be extremely intense. Levels+ does offer a few targets, as well, for those that like specific challenges, with a personalised Record & Ranking section that shows the greatest achievements so far (although the lack of online limits this, sadly), a Panel Collection element that shows what enemies have been faced, what defences have been created, and the loot gained, plus a Mission area that encourages specific objectives to be completed during play. There are also tips given when finally out of moves on the board (resulting in a loss, merely starting afresh), plus a special lightning bolt that gets unlocked and can be used to transform all reds in sight into yellow panels.

Levels+ weighs in at £4.99, which is a bit steep considering is basically just the one screen with no online content, but whereas other games around this price range, or even slightly above, have an actual end point and no reason to return (case in point, the recently reviewed Bulb Boy), Levels+ is secretly addictive because of its open-ended nature. Well, maybe it is not that much of a secret, since it has that very word in its title… Whatever the case, though, as with series such as actionloop, Tetris, or Puzzle League, Levels+: Addictive Puzzle Game has a basic concept, sticks to it, and before you know it, hours and hours have passed by. There are no fancy bells or whistles, just pure, unadulterated fun in a simple-looking package.