Concentrix - Pocket PC

When I first picked up Concentrix i'll admit I was not very impressed. Another puzzle game for the Pocket PC, just what we need. After playing for several hours though, I must say, i'm hooked! The presentation is solid, the sound effects are great, the music is catchy and the gameplay is good. Once again though, i'm cursing Dell for the less than optimal directional pad on the X3i.

Concentrix is a game played in a circular playing field. Shapes start in the middle and by turning them either with the onscreen buttons or directional pad you can decide where in the circle they will be placed. You can also flip the pieces around by pressing the action button (that is user definable). Once you decide how you want them placed, you can accellerate placement by pressing down on the directional pad. This may sound confusing but it's really not. What you're trying to do (at least in Ringtrix) is to make groups of three like colored rings. They can either be side by side, or stacked on top of one another. What's more, you get bonuses if you make multiple groups of three or more at one time. This makes you really think about where the blocks are going and when they start to build up and you have less time to react, things get really frantic!

Concentrix includes 8 different game types. The first time I played through each I really wasn't sure what was different about each one. Once you get into them though you'll quickly realize that they are all somewhat different in the play and the strategy in attacking them.

The following descriptions are taken directly from the detailed help file online.

RingTrix - Tricolor Rings fall slowly, rotating each quadrant individually. Blocks are destroyed when three of the same color are aligned
RadTrix - Tricolor broken rings fall slicing like scissors when rotated. Blocks are destroyed when three of the same color are aligned
CoolTrix - Tricolor Rings fall, rotating each quadrant individually. Blocks are destroyed when three of the same color are aligned
BlokTrix - Tetrad shapes with four colors fall, rotating in place. Blocks are destroyed when three of the same color are alligned.
Tetrix - Tetrad shapes fall, rotating in place. Blocks are destroyed when rings are formed
TriTrix - Triad shapes fall, rotating in place. Blocks are destroyed when rings are formed
Raintrix - Triad shapes with three colors fall, rotating in place. Blocks are destroyed when three of the same color are alligned, diagonals count!
Dr.Trix - Bound cell pairs fall, rotating in place. Sickly segmented cells are destroyed when four cells of the same type are alligned.


Again, if the games all sound familiar to one another it's because they are. Typically the difference is in the number of rings you must complete to advance the levels or in how the rings come out from the center of the playing field. In all games you can use the action button to change the configuration of the blocks or the directional pad to turn them clockwise or counter-clockwise.

The main menu is nicely done with options for Play, High Score, Help, Options, About and finally Exit. The options menu is full of things to do including changing your player name, changing the button configuration and even changing the orientation of the controls so you can put your pocket pc on it's side to play if that is more comfortable for you. The only complaint I have about the options screen is that it's difficult to see what you have checked with the color of the background, I would have opted for a more noticeble Check Mark as opposed to just shading the box.

The help screen for each game is brief and sometimes it will take you a bit to understand exactly what each game needs you to do but you'll understand the general idea once you play one or two times. The detailed help that you get by clicking help again on each game screen tells you more about the options including online high scores and registration of the game.

I have really enjoyed my time with concentrix and although currently my scores are nowhere near what is listed online as the highest scores, i'm still having a blast with this game. My only wish would be for better on-screen controls so that my poor hands would not be cramped from using the X3i directional pad. For $9.95 this is an excellent bargain, coming out at a little more than $1 per game! You're sure to find at least one or two that will challenge your brain and keep you coming back to bust your latest high score. The quality of this title reminds me of Peter Balogh's gamebox series including Gamebox Solitaire and Gamebox Asia. Head over and grab yourself a copy to try out or buy, you won't be sorry.

Buy Concentrix NOW!

Added: April 16th 2004
Reviewer: Bill Schoonmaker
Score:
Related Link: Concentrix Homepage
Hits: 5183
Language: english