Colored Effects is a 2D single screen puzzle platformer.  You play as a little dude with a cape, and when you travel over puddles of color, your cape turns to that color and you get a special skill.  For instance, yellow gives you the power to dash, blue lets you double jump, and you can shoot projectiles with red, among others.  The game is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

In most of these stages, you’ll have to collect three different colored stones to unlock the exit to the next level, and you’ll need to travel through puddles of color and use your skills to do so.  After a certain number of levels, you’ll fight a boss.  These bosses will unlock new colors when defeated, and the bosses are those colors and will use those skills to attack you.  If you get hit a few times during the levels or boss fights, you’ll have to start that level or fight over.  But you do get unlimited continues.

I had a few problems with this one that kept me from staying interested.  The graphics are really small and hard to see, especially during handheld mode.  The puzzles are also a bit tedious and difficult.  A hint option would’ve been nice.  They also don’t explain how certain things work very well.  I had no idea that some blocks would explode and take out stuff beneath them until I looked at a playthrough on YouTube.

Kid Factor:

Colored Effects is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  When you get hit too many times, you just explode into a bunch of pixels and color, and enemies do the same.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.  Younger gamers may find it too difficult, though.

Tags: Game Reviews