Game: Alice in Wonderland – A jigsaw puzzle tale
Genre: Puzzle, Board Games, Strategy, Study
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, (Windows) also available on PlayStation 4/5 & Xbox One/Series X|S
Developers | Publishers: Mens Sana Interactive | QUByte Interactive
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: US $4.99 | UK £4.49 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: February 9th, 2023
Review code used, with many thanks to Mens Sana Interactive.
I’ve always been a fan of jigsaw puzzles, so I was happy when the code arrived to review Alice in Wonderland – A jigsaw puzzle tale. But did that happiness last, or was it a letdown?
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
All the pictures are beautifully illustrated by artist Kátia Numakura, an illustrator and graphic designer based in São Paulo, Brazil. After you complete each puzzle, the picture has a refreshing reinterpretation of the Lewis Carroll story that we all know.
Different Sizes of Jigsaws
There are different sizes of jigsaws to complete, from 60, 135, 240, 375, and 735-piece puzzles. So brilliant, I thought when I booted up the game, there would be lots of jigsaw puzzles for me to complete.
That is until I realised that there are only 12 jigsaw puzzles in all. The other sizes of jigsaws, the 135 pieces puzzles and so on are identical pictures to the 60-piece puzzles. The only difference is you have more jigsaw pieces to place in the giant puzzle, but the picture is the same as before. I was disappointed that there were only 12 different images in the game to complete. However, for the price of the game in the UK, at less than five pounds, it is the quality, not the quantity, that matters.
User-Friendly Jigsaws
On the plus side, making a jigsaw puzzle on the Switch is a lot of fun, and the developers have thought about how to make it user-friendly.
There are many features included in the jigsaw puzzle to make your life easier and be able to see the jigsaw pieces on a smaller screen. You can freely zoom into the scene to see the pieces up closer and drag the board around.
I particularly like the fact I can highlight the border pieces and make them stand out from all the inside jigsaw pieces. That’s helpful.
Furthermore, you can shuffle the remaining jigsaw pieces and highlight pieces from a specific quadrant of the puzzle. So, for instance, if you only want to see the pieces for the lower right-hand corner of the puzzle, you can highlight those and the remaining pieces are faded out. That’s a neat trick for finding a specific jigsaw piece, especially in the 735-puzzle.
Shuffle the Jigsaw Pieces
In addition, if you find yourself staring at the jigsaw and can’t find that one piece you are looking for, you can shuffle the remaining pieces to get a fresh perspective.
Finally, and probably the most essential feature, you can preview the scene so you know what the image you are putting together is. When you complete each jigsaw puzzle once, the next puzzle opens up. You can then replay the puzzle again in the different sizes available.
Visuals and Controls
The completed jigsaws in Alice in Wonderland – A jigsaw puzzle tale are charmingly illustrated in pastel colours. They look great, and the illustrator put a lot of love into them.
You can use either the joy-con controls or the touchscreen, I tried out both, but in the end, I primarily used the touchscreen.
Unfortunately, the game crashed during my playtime. In one sitting, it crashed three times. It is disappointing and annoying when you are halfway to completing a puzzle to lose all your work.
Conclusion
Overall, I like Alice in Wonderland – A jigsaw puzzle tale. However, I would have given it a higher score if it had performed better on the Switch, but the crashes are irritating. Hopefully, a fix will be forthcoming for this lovely game soon.
Final Verdict: I Like it 