Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

8.5

Top-Notch Musical Scores Infused into the Puzzle Gameplay: Philip Glass, Moby, and others provide a rich tapestry in which to play out your games

Tetris-like Puzzle with a twist: a lack of gravity allows you the freedom to put it together however you want

On the Easy Side: Puzzle-piece placement is on the forgiving side, allowing you to patch holes for coverage, but reducing the thought required to be successful

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Released in early 2010 by OneBigGame (a studio that gives their earnings to charity), Chime is a music-infused Tetris-like puzzle game which features Philip Glass, Moby and others. While I can't call it ground-breaking, Chime is still an exceptional work that gives you ample reason to keep this one burning long after you've completed each of the time-trials.

Despite only presenting 6 basic levels, their difference being purely in the board-design and music, Chime finds a lot of ways for you to get some great mileage out of the game, not the least of which are the excellent musical scores. In Rez-like fashion, Chime's music presents both a baseline musical score which is then layered over by actions you take on the screen. Instead of shooting computer viruses, however, in Chime you create blocks of covered tiles, which then become permanently "unlocked". The goal is then to "unlock" or cover the entire board, or cover as much of it as possible in the time allowed. Featuring 9, 6, and 3 minute contests in addition to the "endless" mode for each level, there's plenty here to keep you making music for a long while.

While the musical scores are definitely the highlight of Chime, the gameplay isn't shabby either. Taking place though a sort of free-floating Tetris mode, you're given shaped-blocks which you fit together in the parameters of the game board to make blocks. A block must be 3 x 3 tiles high/wide minimally, but can be much larger than that, and can also be extended for a brief period after you build one. Unlike Tetris, however, there's no gravity at work, so you can place pieces wherever you like, provided they are not on top of another piece. Interestingly enough, you can also place pieces on top of completed (or "unlocked") tiles, so if you're left with a "hole" between your completed blocks, its not really a huge concern.

Chime therefore plays very much like a trans-inducing puzzle game similar to titles like Osmos or Shibuya, yet has a Rez-influenced musical aspect and plays like a space-age Tetris. If those caliber of games seem to indicate the level of excellence in Chime, you'd be on the right track. It's a great game to zone-out to, and I can't say enough about the superb music therein. I will say that the ability to place pieces on top of completed blocks makes Chime easier than it needs to be. If you're playing on endless mode, it isn't a question of whether you'll reach 100% coverage, but rather how long it takes. Certainly, being speedy is a fine way to play. However, I feel strongly that if you were unable to reach holes in your expanding coverage, there'd be a greater need for up-front mental dexterity, and make the game a greater challenge, as well as give it expanded replayability, since 100% coverage would be something to covet, not expect.

The experience of Chime, however, seems to be one of the little perfections that deliver pleasure from the excellence therein. It may be on the easy side, but the experience of play is still something special and rare. And that makes it one of the best purchases on XBLA and one to keep an eye on for PC, especially if you like ambient puzzles with some of the best in-game music around.

8.5/10