Mixups by POWGI Vita/PS4 Review

Mixups by POWGI is a word based puzzle game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4 and Vita. Lightwood Games are specialists in puzzle games involving word searches, picross and more besides. Can Mixups by POWGI deliver a unique entertaining word based puzzle game?

Mixups by POWGI’s unique premise is that a bunch of letters are scrambled to the right, while three words have a particular quantity of spaces on the left that have to be individually completed by utilising all of the letters over the course of the three words, although each letter must only be used once and the hint only reveals the first letter of each word. Mixups by POWGI features 120 sets of puzzles with each set of puzzles other than the how to play category including half a dozen puzzles that each contains three words per puzzle.

Mixups by POWGI supports cross-buy between the PS4 and Vita, although it unfortunately does not support cross-save, so you will not be able to continue from your previous progression on the Vita version when playing the PS4 version and vice versa. Cross-buy presents a superb amount of value as it means that you will be purchasing the PS4 and Vita versions of the game with just a single purchase.

The controls are appropriately mapped to both the Vita and DualShock 4 controller as the Vita version has an impressively accurate touch screen control scheme in which the player can tap on the letter they would prefer to highlight followed by tapping on the subsequent letters on the touch screen to construct the word. However, there are other methods of highlighting letters on Vita and the DualShock 4 controller by moving a pink square with the d-pad or left analogue stick before pressing X to choose a letter; pressing select on Vita or R3 on the DualShock 4 controller to display the instructions; simultaneously pressing L and R on Vita or L1 and R1 on the DualShock 4 controller to provide a hint; pressing square to clear the current word that was being constructed before beginning with a different word; and pressing start on Vita or the options button on the DualShock 4 controller to display the pause menu. There is no touch pad implementation, despite Vita’s alternative touch screen control scheme, alongside no vibration that could have vibrated to indicate an incorrectly selected word and no light bar support that could have produced a light pink throughout gameplay to reflect the colour of a highlighted letter.

Graphically, Mixups by POWGI does what anyone experienced in word puzzles would expect as it focuses on the word puzzle with bold letters highlighted with pink frames in each corner of a currently selected letter, while shapes that letters are contained within are also situated in larger sizes in the background in the exterior to the two puzzle areas; instead of any unnecessary flair. However, a dog provides some fun puns and play on words styled one-liners when pausing a puzzle or at the end of each puzzle.

Mixups by POWGI’s presentation is solid with a great touch screen based user interface across various menus on Vita such as the puzzle category menus, options menu and various gameplay menus with support for navigation via the left analogue stick, directional pad and face buttons on Vita and DualShock 4, although it does not include support for navigation via the right analogue stick on either, rear touch pad on Vita or the touch pad on DualShock 4. Menu backgrounds are simply related to the subject matter involving a larger sized shape that contains letters within word puzzles.

Sound effects include a brief sound when selecting a letter and a positive ringing effect to signify that a player had successfully constructed a word, while the music is light in tone in the same vibe as the POWGI puzzle games. There is no DualShock 4 speaker implementation that could have produced the sound effect upon constructing a word.

The trophy list includes 33 trophies with 31 silver trophies, 1 gold trophy and 1 platinum trophy, while the Vita and PS4 versions have their own individual trophy list resulting in the player earning the same trophies for two separate playthroughs between both platforms. Every trophy involves completing 32 specific sets of word puzzles. It is estimated that depending upon skill and a good trophy guide to provide some helpful tips that it would take around 15 to 25 hours to platinum the trophy list.

There are no difficulty levels, although the difficulty curve is definitely harder in comparison to other word puzzle games such as Word Search by POWGI and One Word by POWGI due to the hint only revealing the first letter of each of the three words within a word puzzle, alongside the length of every word with a vast quantity of scrambled letters to choose from in order to complete every word within each word puzzle.

Mixups by POWGI’s replayability originates from 120 sets of word puzzles usually containing half a dozen puzzles with three words to construct in each puzzle, alongside replaying puzzles to improve your personal best time that will collectively keep players returning for quite some time on Vita and PS4. However, unlike Word Search by POWGI; Mixups by POWGI does not feature local multiplayer on PS4.

Analysis
• Title: Mixups by POWGI
• Developer: Lightwood Games
• Publisher: Lightwood Games
• System: PS4/PS Vita
• Format: PSN Download
• Cross-Buy: Yes (PS4 and PS Vita)
• Cross-Play: No
• Players: 1 (PS4 and PS Vita)
• Hard Drive Space Required: 114MB/Vita Memory Card Space Required: 156MB