Orange review
:: OBTUSE ORANGEPrice: Free
Version: 1.5
App Reviewed on: iPhone SE
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After making games about green, red, yellow, black, blue, and pink, Bart Bonte has released yet another set of 50 puzzles inspired by yet another color: Orange. While I'm not sure this game quite reaches the levels of creativity found in his last color-based outing, Orange is nevertheless a fun little puzzle game.
Orange you curious?
As with all of his previous color puzzle games, Orange is a series of single-screen puzzles inspired by and stylized around a single color. In the case of this game, it means solving puzzles using traffic cones, basketballs, the eponymous fruit, etc. and often also having to manipulate or spell out the word "orange."
Most of these puzzles have completely unique mechanics governing how you reach a solution, though some ideas get recycled with additional kinks added to them to keep them fresh. Each of these puzzles usually takes just a few minutes at most to complete and a lot of the game's appeal is the novelty of discovering what the next orange-inspired challenge will be.
Pondering the orange
I'm typically impressed with Bart Bonte's ability to capture a feeling or a vibe associated with the colors for his games, but with Orange, I couldn't quite dial in on a specific tone. Where Pink was whimsical and loud and Green was more meditative and calm, Orange doesn't quite feel like it has its own distinct flavor.
I think some of this affects the overall puzzle design, as well. Some of the challenges in Orange can feel somewhat obtuse. This has been an issue in previous games as well, but it feels the most pronounced here, which can leave you scratching your head on puzzles that seem designed for you to punch through with relative ease.
Color compare
Just as with all of the other titles, Orange is free-to-play and allows you to play through the whole game without spending money. Free players get served ads if they decide to use Orange's in-game hint system, though ads can be removed from the game from a straightforward $1.99 in-app purchase.
The hint system--as always--is great at indicating how to proceed through puzzles gently without just giving answers away. Unfortunately, though, I found myself needing to use these hints quite a bit to make it through Orange for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
The bottom line
Orange is another quality entry in Bonte's color puzzle series, though it does feel perhaps like a step back from what I enjoyed about previous titles. There's a slight lack of confidence here that makes it just a little less impactful than others, though with it being free you can find out easily enough for yourself whether you agree.