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PathPix is not my ordinary review here. In fact, it is extraordinary. I usually don’t review things other than iPhone apps, but in this case I make an exception for two reasons. First, this PC app now has a iPhone port, and second, the game is extraordinary in every sense. I’ll be doing a separate review of the iPhone port, but until then, here is what the PC game is all about.
PathPix, at it’s core, is a graphical logic game. It reminds me of a cross between paint-by-number, Sudoku, and Nonograms. Created by Kris Pixton, the game features grids of varying size filled with numbers designated with different colors. The concept is simple. Connect the dots so that the total number of covered squares matches the numbers indicated at the ends. In other words, if you are dealing with a black 5, it has to connect to another black 5 with three squares in-between so that, when you add in the two ends, you get five squares total. When you do that, you end up with a line covering the area in the color shown by the number. Sometimes this isn’t as easy as it sounds though because you run into a brick wall, so to speak; a red line that cannot be crossed and has to be gone around. As the puzzle nears completion, you actually start developing a picture. Once the puzzle level is complete, the grid disappears, the colors merge together, and the full picture is revealed. In the example posted here, it is pretty obvious that we’re creating a lighthouse. In other cases though, I you don’t really see the pattern until the image is complete.
To help with this process of finding the single way the level can be solved, the PC version of the game has a couple of nice features. If you hit the “/” key, it will indicate if the puzzle is correct so far. It doesn’t indicate where the errors are though. You are left to find those and fix them yourself. If you need the additional help though, the “F” key will “fix” any incorrect paths by removing them and allowing you to try a different path to connect the numbers. This comes in very handy when there are multiple blue 12′s, for example, in a single area and you are not even sure which pair of them are supposed to link up. These options are also available from the menu. Finally, as you near completion, you may loose track of what pairs remain to be connected. This is real easy with the 2′s as, but default and design, the have to be right next to each other.
PathPix is one of those games that is both simple to learn, and compulsively addictive. The “reward” you get upon completion when you see the final solution is a lot like finishing a jigsaw puzzle. It makes you want to “just start” a new one. Problem is that once you start it, you don’t want to put it down. Like a jigsaw puzzle where you really need to do something else but are going to find “just one more piece first”, I found PathPix to be more addicting than any game I have played on any platform in quite a while. I just had to have more. Luckily, the free demo version offered, while providing hours of game play with the included 25 levels, isn’t all that there is to the game. When purchased for $19.99, you get 26 extra puzzle packs (in addition to the 30 “regular” packs) for a total of 1,400 levels. Some of these have grids as large as 63×43…significantly larger and more complex than the easy 12×12 grids that get you started in the game. And new packs are made available on the web site for registered users to download for free. An average 30×30 grid takes me about 30 minutes to complete. This equates to roughly 700 hours of game play for $20. That comes out to about 1.75 cents per level or less than 4 cents per hour of entertainment…a steal in any economy.
The game offers both background music and sound effects. Both can be turned off or on, but volume adjustment isn’t an option. The background music is MIDI files, and you can add your own from any source to have in the background as you play. As you play through puzzle packs, the number of solved puzzles shows up next to the puzzle pack name, and as you open the pack, a thumbnail of a solved level shows up to indicate which ones have already been solved. This makes it easy to find a particularly entertaining level that you may want to clear and replay. The game also allows for different user profiles so that you can keep track of your own progress separately from another player on the same machine.
My selections for this game would be very few. I’d love volume settings for the sound and music, notifications when new packs are available for download, buttons on the top for checking for and fixing errors, and, most of all, I’d love some kind of editor so that users could create and upload their own puzzle packs. I am not sure how these levels are created to begin with, but if users were able to create these and upload them, it would be really cool. One last suggestion would be upgraded graphics. I can understand the need to have something that would run on OS versions going all the way back to Windows 98, but does it have to look like something from six operating systems ago? If a “new and improved” version allowing for in-game downloads and uploads of new content is considered, some new buttons and such might make the GUI a little more 21st century.
Overall, if I were to give this game “stars” on a 5-star spread, it would definitely get 5 stars. While I do offer some suggestions of how this almost-perfect puzzle/logic game can be improved, none of those things distract from the game play or overall enjoyment of the game. It’s a “Must-Have” in my book!
iRealSMS is what Apple should have included in the iPhone to begin with. When you get a text message, it pops up and allows you to respond without leaving your current application. If you need to contact someone while you are playing a game or something, you can’t launch the app with the volume up button. It searches your contacts as you start typing their name. Once you select one, you can choose to either send them a message or call them. It even counts down your remaining characters as you type out a message. 
There are 2 kinds of cell phone owners, those that control their phones and those that let their phones control them. This app, from Cydia, is for those in the first category that are a bit on the brave side. I say that because the configuration options can be a bit overwhelming. It is worth it though. Profiles can be set to manage all your phone and SMS options. For example, unless you are family OR the SMS contains specific text and the sender’s number starts with a certain string of numbers, I don’t receive it during programmer overnight hours. Call from a private number or withhold your name? You are going right to voice mail. 
If you like the Free Memory 1.4 program from the app store, you will love MemTool, a free memory tool in Cydia. Free Memory would only free up to 20MB or so. This will do at least 50% more than that. Igbo an going to launch a graphics or CPU intensive app, I either run MemTool first or end up having to come back and do it later. 
This is another Cydia app for jailbroken iPhone’s. It tells you just about anything you could ever want to know about your iPhone internals. Nothing else comes close to it. It has pages and pages of information. The small screenshot doesn’t really do it justice. 
IntelliScreen is only for those adventurous enough to disconnect from the Apple worship and jailbreak your phone. It is available from Cydia and gives you the kind of home screen that any other smart phone platform has had for years. In fact, you get three screens out of it. The first two can view content and/or alerts of your choosing, while the third is a speed dial of favorite contacts. The download is free and a free trial license is available. This and Winterboard are thevtwo top reasons why I jailbreak my phone…well there is that whole cut and paste thing too, but now I am leaving review mode and getting into gripe mode. I’ll quit while I am ahead. Check out IntelliScreen and never waste your lock screen again. 
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