Michelin Game - Blueprint 3D

When  you talk about puzzle games on the iPhone and the iPad, Angry Birds usually come to mind for most people, and while I am not denying that Angry Birds is a great game, there are also far more innovative and superior games out there for your iOS devices.

One of them is a game that has been out for some time now, and it is published by FDG Entertainment, who was also involved in Scotland Yard.

The game I am referring to is Blueprint 3D, and like its name suggests, the game basically revolves around the player trying to solve an assortment of puzzles based on blueprints and drawings of all kinds of objects.

The gameplay is really very simple but utterly effective. Using either single or double finger swipes, you basically attempt to rotate a drawing that has been scrambled into a proper picture.

Unscrambling A Clarinet

A one finger swipe will rotate the drawing in 3D, while a two finger swipe will simply rotate the entire object either clockwise or anti-clockwise. And that is basically it. Each drawing is always randomly descrambled and will initially look like a mess.

But it usually only takes a couple of seconds for you to figure out how to rotate it to the correct position, and in the normal mode, there are also worded captions to point you in the right direction.

Completed Level

Once you successfully complete an object, a score will be given to you as well as a star rating out of a maximum of 3 stars. As you begin each level or object, a clock will start ticking and the score is computed based on how fast you can complete each level.

For most objects, you will easily take no more than a few seconds to complete and rarely do you need more than a minute to do so. It is also very likely you will retry most levels to achieve a 3-star rating and to improve your timed scores at the same time.

Multiple Different Themed Packs

The levels are separated into different themes, and these range from architecture to space and there is even a Christmas pack. Each pack consist of about 30 or more levels, and with about 11 packs, this will come to about 300 levels and objects for you to go through.

In addition to the normal mode, FDG has also updated the app to include 2 other modes. There is an advanced mode where the captions and markers are taken out, and this makes it harder to orientate the object when it is descrambled.

There is also an extremely difficult pro mode where not only the captions are taken out, the object is also divided into multiple different planes and you will have to successfully rotate both planes into the correct picture.

The Military Pack

Most puzzle games tend to lack a certain amount of replayability once you complete it, but Blueprint 3D has surprisingly, quite a great deal of replayability. The 300 levels themselves will take you quite some time to go through, and the different playing modes will challenge you for some time.

As with par for most iOS games theses days, there are the usual Game Center leaderboards and achievements for you to accomplish. The game interface itself is very slick and shows a high level polish.

The animation of the rotating objects and drawings are smooth and the side animations are nicely done as well. There is a different musical background for each category and everything just feels like there was a lot of effort put into designing this game.

A Snowman In The Christmas Pack

Every theme has a different and appropriate background as well and is beautifully rendered. On the new iPad's Retina Display, the artwork is absolutely stunning and is one of the most beautiful games on the iPad.

The only drawback is the game comes in separate versions for the iPhone and the iPad, with the iPad version priced much higher. This means that you need to pay twice if you want to get the game for both devices. Blueprint 3D does feel like it was made for the iPad though, with the larger screen estate.

Other than not being universal, Blueprint 3D is really a joy to play. The sense of elation in completing an object makes this both fun and surprisingly exciting as you try to beat the clock. It is also a great game for children for them to learn recognise different objects and landmarks.

Blueprint is certainly the best puzzle game on the iOS platform, and one of the most ingenious ones as well, and is a puzzler that works best on touch devices. It goes to show that there are lots more gems in the iOS gaming sphere besides Angry Birds.

Blueprint 3D (US$0.99) - Click here to download the iPhone game.

Blueprint 3D HD (US$2.99) - Click here to download the iPad game.