Thanks to Lightwood Games for the review code

Title: Pic a Pix Color
System: PS4
Price: $7.99
Release Date: 04/25/2018

Story

While there’s no story in this game to speak of, (obviously, due to this being a picross game) it should be noted that having previously reviewed Pic-a-Pix Deluxe for the Switch, that 99% of the things in the game are the same as in deluxe, as this game came out before deluxe did, via the 3DS eShop, and the entirety of the puzzles in this title are available as DLC for the Switch version. The main reason I’m covering this in a review form is due to the fact that it’s on a new system, it supports achievements, and it still does the same mistakes that the Switch version did. (and still does months later) Thus, this review will be really short, but I hope to at least make it informative enough to help you decide to purchase.

Presentation

The presentation is exactly the same as in Deluxe. The menus, music, etc are all the same, the only difference is obviously the actual puzzles themselves. Unfortunately, this also means a very, very irritating design flaw that was in Deluxe is intact, despite how months have passed since Deluxe launched, and that is the awful audio balancing. Switching colors around with the shoulder buttons produces a louder sound effect than navigating the menus or puzzles normally, and the difference is so obvious that it makes the game a bit annoying to play, which is honestly inexcusable after Deluxe had the same audio problem that was never fixed.

Gameplay

Pic a Pix Color follows the same rules introduced in the colored puzzles in Deluxe, where you play the usual game of picross across different sized boards, with the addition of being able to use colors in order to complete the picture, with the extra colors being used in place of empty spaces if there are two colors in a row or column. While Deluxe offered some traditional black and white puzzles to play from the get-go, (with more colored and BW puzzles as DLC) Color only offers what’s advertised on the tin, despite being the same price as on the Switch, so if you aren’t the biggest fan of the colored puzzles, you’re out of luck if you were hoping for a traditional experience.

In terms of any major differences between Color and Deluxe outside of that… Well, there’s barely anything else to make note of outside of the differing puzzles on offer here, and the addition of Playstation Trophies. The trophies themselves aren’t really anything special, rewarding you for clearing every puzzle in a timely manner, although there are a few that reward you for not using a X to mark spots to ignore, but outside of those trophies the Platinum is really easy to obtain if you go for clearing all the puzzles.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pic a Pix Color is more Pic a Pix, which isn’t really a bad thing considering how Deluxe was a decent game on the Switch eShop. However, the fact that this title still fails to fix the irritating sound effect bug that was present in deluxe is pretty inexcusable, and the lack of DLC to expand the catalogue here like you could on Switch may turn off some who want even more puzzles to enjoy after nabbing the platinum. Speaking of which, on the Switch version of Deluxe, you can even buy the puzzles included in this very game for half the price as DLC for Deluxe, so it’s not like the Playstation is getting much in terms of exclusives save for a platinum trophy. It’s still an enjoyable picross clone, but with some more polish with the sound effects and maybe offering a few exclusive puzzles for the platform it could have been on the same level as the Switch version, which itself still suffers from sound glitches.

I give Pic a Pix Color a 6 out of 10.