When I got the chance to review Yuso, I was unsure of what I would find. I knew it is a puzzle game, but had seen that the game had some mixed reception from other players. Nonetheless, I became determined to make my own opinion on the game and I am glad I did that.
I like puzzle games, especially when they try and shake things up a little. Yuso is one such game, in that it takes a simple premise but makes it work. The simple premise is that there is invasion by aliens that come in a variety of colors, and it is your takes to remove them from the worlds they infested. To do this, you must match similar colored blobs sort of like Puyo Puyo but not exactly. While the blobs need to be lined up, there is a twist here in that the destroyed Yuso will affect the ones around them. That is to say, if you destroy a red Yuso next to a yellow one, then the yellow Yuso will become a red one. This ends up creating a challenge that I haven’t seen before. It is far more challenging as the game continues, as you need to make sure there are enough Yuso of the color needed and that can be placed together. If you mess up too much however, you will need to make use of the rewind feature the game has, and take back moves you made.
The result is thus a game that provides a fair challenge that constantly throws something new at you. There will be bombs and nightcaps that affect the playing field. The bombs can actually be used to your advantage to affect the Yuso, but the nightcaps will throw a wrench in your plans since the sleeping Yuso cant be used for popping. In order to wake them up, you will need to solve a nearby popping pattern or use a bomb. using the bomb will not cause a color change though, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Yuso is a brilliantly designed game, and it is unfortunate that the somewhat simplistic look will cause many to pass this one by. That is a mistake because Yuso is far from simple in terms of gameplay. I highly recommend this.
Disclaimer: A review code was provided