Coign of Vantage Review

Coign of Vantage is a unique app based on popular and innovative flash game. It’s a 3D puzzle game where the only task is to find the correct vantage point to see a complete 2D image.

The goal of Coign of Vantage is to rotate the camera angle around a group of 3D cubes so that the all of the cubes line up correctly to form an image. Players can’t actually move the cubes around, but at the correct vantage point, they all form an image. The 3D cubes can be thought of as pixels of an image and the goal is to position the camera at the exact location to view image completely in 2D. Since the cubes are scattered in three dimensions and the goal image is just in two dimensions, it’s not as simple as just rotating the camera 360 degrees until the right angle is obtained.

One aspect of gameplay that took me a while to become accustomed to is that the angle of the completed 3D image doesn’t necessarily match the angle of the 2D image. Another complicating factor is that the angle has to be just right. Coming close is never sufficient.

Coign of Vantage has two game modes, one where players just keep going until time runs out, and the other where players have to complete 10 images in under a minute and a half. There is a timer that is constantly counting down, so it’s always a race to solve the image in as little time as possible. In the normal game mode completing an image adds time onto the countdown, but doesn’t in the other mode.

To help players starting out, the first couple levels automatically have hints, which are two dots connected by a line that when lined up complete the picture. Hints make it incredibly easy to complete the picture, so only the first two levels automatically have them and later levels only have the option to view a hint after a good deal of time has elapsed.

Throughout gameplay one song plays continually in a loop. It’s quite a good song, with a nice piano harmony, but I would have like some variation. Although players are always racing to beat the clock, the music makes the game sound peaceful and relaxed.

The images that players have to solve aren’t the same every time, although there is a fixed number of them. Also, there is a gallery that shows all of the solved images. Any fans of pixel art will enjoy the images and art work.

Coign of Vantage is a great casual puzzle game. It has unique and novel gameplay based on a simple concept. It’s nice to see that developers are still innovating in a crowded genre.