Chuzzle is an extremely ok puzzle game. It's a match 3 style game where you drag rows to complete sets of colored chuzzles. You can identify moves that will cause combos when chuzzles of different colors fall into place, but in this case it feels like those matches are very incidental and reliant on the game spawning the right colors of chuzzle. Its not unenjoyable to make these combos, but rounds can go on for so long that the gameplay loop becomes a bit tiresome. My first run of Chuzzle lasted for 80 minutes, and admittedly I'm not the fastest player but by the end of that 80 minutes I was very ready for things to be over. I think part of the issue is that I don't find its loss condition to be very compelling. It's the same loss condition that Bejeweled uses, where a game is over once you can't make any more moves. It makes sense, and in Bejeweled it's easier to end up in a no move situation, but its not exactly a loss condition that has a lot of tension. It doesn't have the slowly encroaching doom of something like Tetris of Zuma. Chuzzle does gradually lock up your chuzzles, preventing you from moving certain rows and columns. That does add some tension back to the game, but it's a threat that can be worked around by making certain matches.

Overall, I think Chuzzle its fine, as in its not unenjoyable. It has some fun twists on this style of game, and some of its ideas are pretty neat. It's worth a play if you are into puzzle games if you can get it cheap.

Oh, good old PopCap, how everyone misses thee. This is one of their puzzle games that I don't think gets talked out about as much as Bejeweled or Peggle and that's a darn shame. Although technically this was only published by PopCap but I still consider it as part of the lineup. This game was on my grandmother's computer and I would always play this game. So, I picked this up to remember her by and relive some nostalgic memories. Thankfully, this game seems to play natively on modern computers without a hitch!

Immediately you're greeted with the iconic theme with its bee-bah's and its slot machine sound effects. It's like a casino for kids and the prize are those little toys that make bubbles when you squeeze them! As a kid I would always turn the sound effects down though because I was so afraid of the "running out of moves" sound effect. It was so negative-sounding, like being told that someone ran over my dog.

One thing that's a really nice touch is that the Chuzzles are given these cute little sassy personalities. If you drag them around all over the place you can make them dizzy, and if you click on them enough times they sneeze and lose their hair briefly. You can also make the big Chuzzles burp and that...somehow startled me too as a kid. I guess I was jumpier than I remember. Their eyes also follow your cursor. It's little touches like that that I really appreciate as it can make a game that much more satisfying and replayable (no I am NOT turning into Crowbcat).

Since this game was uploaded to Steam over 15 years ago, it lacks many of the features that Steam games would get later on such as achievements or connection to your Steam account. However, they offer in-game badges and a nickname to set for yourself (which you cannot change and STUPID me set the name before I came out)

The in-game badges are a nice touch, as they also come with a cool design that you can gaze at in its Flash aesthetic. I gotta say though, how are people meant to get some of these achievements? I swear to God I'd be more likely to get struck by lightning than being able to make an 8 chuzzle combo. For now I guess I'll gaze longingly at their mysterious silhouettes or look at them in envy by some other lucky bastard that got them.

This game offers 4 different game modes, and I'll review them in different sections. Technically there are 5, but I've never played it due to it being locked for me and it's just Bejeweled.

Classic Mode
This is the original gamemode that was a part of base Chuzzle (I assume). Try to last as long as you can making matches with Chuzzles and not making any bad moves.

This one was pretty good! You can tell this one is all about showing off and trying to make insane combos. They turn up the heat by putting on locks which restrict your movement options later on. I never got what the logic was for putting on the locks, though. It seems like they start locking Chuzzles if you don't make combos or pop a super Chuzzle or unlock a Chuzzle? That rule doesn't always apply so it's a bit of a mystery.

The main thing about landing combos in Chuzzle is that it's gravity based, like Puyo Puyo. However, the Chuzzles spawn infinitely so it's really up to Lady Luck for this one on whether or not your move could be considered a dud. Meanwhile, Puyo Puyo allows you to set up for combos in a more controlled environment. I'm also not really a fan of the big Chuzzles as they spawn all the darn time when you make a grouped combo. They also have the possibility to shift possible combos out of the board entirely, which might also throw a wrench in one's plans. My advice is to get rid of the locked and big Chuzzles as soon as you can so you have the maximum amount of moves.

Speed Chuzzle
Try to get as far as you can while racing against the clock. The farther you go, the faster the timer ticks. This one might be my new favorite from a gameplay perspective. I avoided this one as a child because I didn't like timers counting down (can you TELL I'm autistic) but nowadays it provides a good adrenaline boost. I will say though that because I'm just that type of player, my playing tends to start crumbling down when the first lock appears.

This is also the only gamemode where I would recommend using the Hints button if you're in a pinch. In other game modes with no time limit, one of the Chuzzles will eventually roll their eyes signaling a clue towards a move you can make. But for speed mode, you can easily make up that lost progress and is far more preferable than getting a lock. Once again I recommend getting rid of the locks as soon as you can.

Zen Chuzzle
Exactly what it sounds like. Infinite Chuzzle matching to your heart's content. This game mode also comes with a fun way to show your progress, such as shapes, stripes of a rainbow and stacks of chuzzles all combined with an ever-growing score.

I personally only recommend playing this mode when you're feeling absolutely brain dead and want to unwind for a bit. Also, funny side note, the inability to lose in Zen makes me think that I'm upsetting the Classic Mode gods when I make certain moves. This game is messing with me.

Mind Bender
This one I personally am not a fan of. You try to move Chuzzles to match the shown pattern in the mini-screen. It almost works like a Rubik's Cube in shifting the colors around in the right way. That said I was never a Rubik's Cube kid so these puzzles always made my brain sad. You also can't restart the puzzles so if you mess up too much you're royally screwed. In short, if you're into this sort of experience then good for you. I'm going to make the gay rainbow in Zen.

Overall, decent casual puzzle game. Definitely not the best of the ones I've played but I've gotten so much mileage out of this game for a very good reason.

I'm definitely not as chuzz-pilled as some people I know but this game is a solid time. At its core it's a simple match-3 slide game which isn't really my cup of tea for puzzle games, but the style and polish put into it def kept me playing. It sure is addicting at its core poppin those lil chuzzle dudes. Eventually the game will throw various different hindrances like locking certain spots on the board, throwing rainbow guys that don't match with other colors easily, or making big chuzzles that are hard to pop and hinder slide movement. It certainly can be stressful to play which is a really funny contrast to the colorful visuals and incredibly groovy OST. There's no bespoke ending or anything, you just chuzz on and on to get the highest score before death inevitably comes and puts you in its cold grasp. Such is chuzzle, such is life. The deluxe version includes 3 extra gamemodes. There's Speed chuzzle, which is the same as regular chuzzle except a timer slowly adds more and more locks to the screen and playing quickly extends the timer and delays your inevitable suffocation. There's Zen Chuzzle, which is an endless practice mode to lab out chuzzling to your hearts content. Lastly, there's a puzzle mode that I forgot the name of where you need to match patterns that is neat, but not really the same as the core chuzzle gameplay. There's also a lot of achievements to unlock as you go through the game, completionists will be playing this for centuries. Chuzzle is simple, yes, but in its simplicity is an incredibly addicting puzzle game. I'd play this over bejeweled any day.

i miss popcap