Ketzal’s Corridors Review: Fun & Intense Puzzle Action

Ketzal’s Corridors Review

Ketzal’s Corridors
Nintendo 3DS
eShop

Ketzal’s Corridors is a 3D puzzle game available for the Nintendo 3DS in the Nintendo eShop. The storyline is that of an evil god which has brought chaos to the world and it is up to you as a guardian to help bring back peace to the spirit world. The guardians are different shaped blocks that you will use to pass through different ruins. How the game plays out is that you will come to a number of walls, each with a different shape in them for you to match with your block in order to pass through.

At first they make it very easy on you as the speed is slow and it gives you plenty of time to match your block up with the wall. As you play on and enter different game types you will come across more difficult situations where the speed continues to increase limiting your response time to match the shape in the wall. Another important factor to the gameplay is that you will collect hearts along the way and it is important to collect these hearts. Sometimes the shapes in the wall are made so you can easily pass through, however, if you want to collect the hearts you will need to match up your block with the hearts to do so. This adds to the challenge of the overall gameplay and something that does make it more interesting. To further improve on that, they made areas where your block can’t cover every heart. However, as you approach the wall, if you highlight the open areas in the wall with your block and then collect at least one of the hearts, it will perform a “trick” and you will collect every heart.

Not only is it about collecting all of the hearts in each stage, but they also give you a time limit. The faster you complete the stage the bigger the heart bonus you will get. Let me say as well that the more hearts you get overall in the game, the better it is for you which allows you to unlock other areas. But it’s not only just about playing a stage where you maneuver your way through walls. They also provide you with additional gameplay types which includes towers. The tower levels are a lot of fun to play. Basically, you climb the tower as fast as you can by matching your block with the wall as quickly as possible. You will have time trials where you want to get the fastest time possible. You also have infinite towers where the higher you climb, the faster your reaction time will have to be in order to continue on. Both of those are a lot of fun and really put your reflexes to a test.

They did a really great job with this title to continue to add fresh gameplay experience as you continue on and unlock more ruins to explore. As you continue to play you will unlock different guardian blocks that have different shapes that make it more difficult for you to match the wall. Not only that but they continue to add different styles of gameplay, such as stages, where you have to match each area on the wall with your block before it opens, allowing you to move through. Doing that on a time limit is mighty tough. Then you also have stages where it’s all about high speed and you will need to avoid objects as you cruise at high speeds and then match the shape of the wall to pass through. These are all a lot of fun to play through and something I think most people will enjoy.

I have to say that I do wish that there were online leader-boards for this game as it would have been a lot of fun to see who has climbed the highest or who has the fastest times. It would have provided even more depth for you to enjoy instead of just attacking your own scores after you’ve reached the end. Still, there is plenty to keep you busy. There is also local play if you know someone else that has this title. Another option is to play on the same 3DS via split screen. One person would control their block with the D pad and L button while the other would use the buttons on the right side. Not my favorite way to play locally as I wish there was at least download play available.

One of my disappointments outside of no online game modes or leader-boards is the fact that you can’t change your button settings. The buttons feel backwards to me and so I end up thinking I need to turn one way and it will switch me the other way. It’s definitely an issue when it comes to the timed stages or when your reaction speed needs to be quick. You change up the block shape by the use of the A, B, X, Y and R buttons and you can speed things up yourself by pressing the L button. The buttons are simple to understand except for my issue with turning the wrong way.

This is a very nice puzzle game that can be a lot of fun when things are both easy and intense. It’s especially a great deal of fun when you are playing modes such as the infinite tower that goes on until you can’t keep up with the switches. I think most people will enjoy the challenge that this game offers and there are plenty of areas to play in with single player mode. There are even some areas that you will enjoy playing again with the challenge of trying to improve on your score or time. It offers a lot of fun and if you like puzzle games then I would expect this to be a easy purchase for you and a most enjoyable one. I must also mention that it looks very solid in 3D and has some decent sounds for you to enjoy.

Score: 8.5/10