Game Reviews

TCHOW Rainbow

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| TCHOW Rainbow
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TCHOW Rainbow
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| TCHOW Rainbow

In TCHOW Rainbow, you are a villainous mastermind who, using the power of controllable rainbows, will wreak havoc over a grey and depressing land by forcibly inflicting happiness on the dreary inhabitants.

It's an original concept, at least.

By dragging the rainbow around the screen and circumnavigating obstacles, you can ruin the dull lives of these unfortunates for your own sick pleasure by crashing your rainbow directly into their moaning little faces.

But it's not as simple as join-the-dots - your rainbow is made up of multiple distinct colours, and dividing it up is the key to the later puzzles.

The key to the earlier puzzles is merely keeping enough of your rainbow intact, as when you crash into walls, obstacles, or the faces of your enemies you lose every strand that contacts the surface.

Smaller groups of coloured light have tighter turning circles and can navigate trickier obstacles, so shearing off strands from the main rainbow (the 'mainbow,' as I've come to call it) like you're peeling a multicoloured Cheese-String is a required skill. It's not a skill the game teaches you, mind - you'll need to pick it up yourself.

Strange little game

Once you've got that down, TCHOW Rainbow really opens up. In each of the 30 levels, there are badges for collecting extra stars, keeping your finger on the touchscreen (a nightmare endeavour on the harder levels), and finishing the level with a minimum number of light strings intact.

Completing those opens up additional levels, all of which are displayed on a neat monochrome backdrop as your evil rainbows ravage the land.

It's a little trickier than it could be, and the learning curve from, "oh I'm in charge of a rainbow that's neat" to, "I have to divide this thing up into HOW many parts?" is steep, and sudden. But persisting with this strange little game is worth it, and there's enough there to keep you coming back for full completion.

TCHOW Rainbow

Cute, original, and challenging, TCHOW Rainbow is definitely worth a look
Score
Grant Howitt
Grant Howitt
Grant Howitt likes game mechanics. It's kind of a thing with him. Born in the UK and currently living in Sydney, Australia, Grant spends most of his waking hours playing or designing games. He is unusually tall, has daft-coloured hair, and drinks more coffee than you