“With every action, a consequence.”  In Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, this phrase could not be more true.  Almost everything you do and say directly affects the strengths of your abilities and relationships with characters and groups all over the world of Cyrodil.  And oh, what a lovely world it is, dense forests and all!  Oblivion is one of the most engrossing open-world RPGs that has ever been created, and the freedom of choice is just one of the many great things to be experienced in this game.

The “Wild West” setting is one often ignored in the gaming scene, but has blessed us with such sleeper hits as Red Dead Revolver, Gun, and even the original Call of Juarez. In the case of Bound in Blood, which is actually set as a prequel to Call of Juarez, another sleeper hit has landed. In more ways than one, Bound in Blood improves upon its predecessor to bring forth an even more unforgettable, polished adventure. The single-player component is far easier to get into and enjoy, plus multiplayer has been improved and will undoubtedly please those wanting some extra “oomph!” from the game.

Cheetahs, jets, race cars, Sonic the Hedgehog. These things are fast, furious, and deadly. Welcome Faith to the club. As the hero and main character of Mirror’s Edge, she sprints at break-neck speeds, running along walls and bouncing around the environment like some sort of Tazmanian Devil. She also performs combat maneuvers such as flying kicks and sliding punches, all while maintaining most of her momentum. Fact is: Once you step into this aerobatic first-person game, most others in the genre will feel slow or just plain clumsy in comparison.

We were probing the internet for something to mention in a review, when we suddenly came across ‘Gaia 3D Puzzle’ a cheap 3D applet that allows you to create your own puzzles to be used on your computer. We promptly got in contact with the development team, who gave us our own free copy to work with – and we must say, the game wasn’t that bad.

In Gaia 3D Puzzle, you are placed in an isometric view by default, but you can easily change the angle that you view your puzzle at. You are placed in a blank gray area which is scattered with various pieces of the puzzle that you specified.  Your mission is the same as the physical equivalent – complete the puzzle as fast as you possibly can.

Gaia 3D Puzzle comes with 12 high resolution images, which you can chose to use for your puzzle – or you can use your own images. Once you have confirmed your choice, you are taken to a page that allows you to set the number of pieces to your puzzle.  

We promptly launched up the game and decided to use a picture of various staff members as a puzzle, and selected the medium puzzle piece count. We were left racking our brains for about an hour trying to finish the puzzle, which certainly helped kill the time, but we couldn’t decide if it a fun experience or not. With that said, many of us are not avid puzzle fans, so it’s unfair for us to say.

is Gaia 3D Puzzle better than the real thing? It’s hard to judge. You and your family can’t really all crowd round your PC monitor completing a puzzle, but for those who prefer to do puzzles on their own, it’s a worthy investment.

There are very few sound effects in the game – other than the click of puzzle pieces fitting together. We were expecting some kind of optional soundtrack to be playing during the game, but it was completely void of that, and we were resorted to using trusty Windows Media Player with our own music selection. Shame.

Gaia 3D Puzzle is hardly a family-friendly game, and it’d probably be more fun watching paint dry than to watch someone complete a puzzle on the computer. We couldn’t think of any worse game to watch someone play. Nevertheless, for those lone puzzle addicts out there, we seem to think this would be a good purchase, in place of dishing out more and more money purchasing tens of puzzle sets.

Gaia 3D Puzzle is the perfect applet to help train your brain – as well to help you kill a few hours. Try to beat the highest puzzle piece count, we dare you.

If you wish to purchase this game, head on over to their site, here.

Playability – 6/10 – a great game to play for those of you who are puzzle fans, but we were not able to complete another puzzle straight after the first. Our brains hurt.

Graphics – 7/10 – The graphics are whatever image you might decide to use, but the mathematics behind the puzzle generation is very clever indeed.

Sounds – 3/10 – other than the noise of the pieces fitting together, it was completely void of anything remotely resembling sound effects. We were expecting a playlist of some description, but we were left with absolutely no audio to speak of.

Overall – 5/10 – An affordable game for puzzle fans, but sadly, void of any music, and identical to other puzzle games on the internet. For this reason, we give it a average rating.