Review: Chuzzle for BlackBerry

I first met Chuzzle as a PC game. Oh, I couldn't resist tickling the fuzzy creatures until they sneezed their hair off and went bald for a few seconds. Next came the Windows Mobile version where I played the Zen mode of the game for months with help from my kids.

Players know that PC and other versions of a game aren't always identical to the original. Chuzzle is no different except it's the first BlackBerry game I purchased.

A match three game, players need to match three or more of the same colored Chuzzles to score. You can move a row or column of Chuzzles to make matches up and down or across. As you advance, the game becomes more challenging by adding locks on a Chuzzle. When this happens, you can't move that Chuzzle's row or column at all. The only way to break a lock is to match the locked Chuzzle by moving the other rows and columns.

Another Chuzzle obstacle is Fat Chuzzle. Hey, that's what they call the big Chuzzles. In moving Fat Chuzzles, you move two whole rows and columns rather than one. So expect lots of bumping because the Fat Chuzzles can't come out on the other side of the screen. Chuzzles can go all the way around except when there's a Fat Chuzzle present on their row or column.

Make matches of five or more and earn Super Chuzzles. These explode as soon as you match them with same colored Chuzzles. Create a bigger explosion by putting two of them together.

Chuzzle comes with multiple modes for every platform including the BlackBerry. The four modes are:

• Classic: Start with two Scramles and keep playing until you're out of moves. Scrambles come into play when you run out of moves. The Chuzzles spin to provide more moves. You can earn more Scrambles by scoring enough points.
• Mindbender: "Puzzle your Chuzzles until they match." Here the Chuzzles are mixed up. Move them until they match the given pattern.
• Expert: This would be the replacement for Speed mode, something not too easy to do on a BlackBerry. Expert grows more challenging much faster than Classic mode. Locks start showing up earlier and more often.
• Zen: The "you can't lose" mode. This is great for kids -- especially my competitive ones -- because they play on and on without losing.

Classic and Mindbender work like the original. The BlackBerry wheel slips on occasion and moves the wrong row or column of Chuzzles.

The BlackBerry game doesn't come with a timer, so there's no pressure to race the clock. However, Zen disappoints. It truly goes on endlessly without producing any charms or rainbows. The Windows Mobile version has them both and that makes Zen more captivating. You can't tickle the BlackBerry Chuzzles. Another downside as they don't have as much character as they usually do.

22 trophies are available for winning. You know which ones you haven't won when a trophy appears black and looks like a traditional trophy. Most are self-explanatory except "Playing an entire game without a bad move." Does this mean every time you move, you pop a Chuzzle? If you move and don't make a match or bonk a Fat Chuzzle, is this a bad move?

Options let you turn on / off sound, change languages (English, German, Spanish, Italian or French), Backlight always on or not, and Chuzzle movement and Chuzzle popping can be automatic or manual. The latter features are clever and tough to decide which works better. Automatically moving Chuzzles scroll one full rotation unless you tell them to stop. It means less work in moving them around. Automatic popping means the Chuzzles will pop as soon as they match even without your pressing the button. The good thing about this is that if you can't see a match, it helps. The bad is that the match could pop before you get to the Chuzzle you want to pop.

Go ahead and change the language to one that you don't know. It's not like Chuzzles has a lot of text. Once you get to know the game, you should figure out what the words mean. Pick French and you'll never want to quit because the French word for quit is "quitter."

While I miss the Zen features and the little Chuzzle personality quirks, the BlackBerry version takes advantage of the BlackBerry's pad for easy movement that you can play with one hand. My five-year-old even figures out how to play with it, so what more can I parent ask for when the little one needs entertaining?