Gyromancer

Developer: Square Enix, PopCap Games

Publisher: Square Enix

Release: 2009

Platform: PC (played), X360

Genre: Puzzle

Weirder than seeing PopCap's logo following Square Enix's one is to behold the aggressive breed born from such unlikely partnership.

Gyromancer is somewhat oppressive in many levels: characters art pieces can be surprisingly wicked, the plot is dark and gory, and the gameplay--as far as gem-match puzzles go--aim to constrain the player instead of encourage creative problem solving. In fact, even simple actions as spinning gems counter clock-wise (something that could be intuitively pulled off with a right click of the mouse) cost an item, and must be executed sparingly. As it piles up towards the end, some concepts communicate badly and puzzles manage to become even cryptic, an unthinkable feature for an apparently casual setup.

But it still hooks. Finding, unlocking and training gorgeous beasts proves to be rewarding--and so does simply following the classic-yet-nicely-told story. To the point it's easy to take "twisting gems" for granted and end taking the game more seriously than it has any rights to be taken.

Great art--tied to almost-as-great writing.

Gyromancer succeeds by not only dressing PopCap's stuff in a beautiful coat of paint, but also by adding meaning to mundane gameplay mechanics.