KrissX Review (Xbox Live)

Is that owl yawning or what?

Playing a word puzzle game on Xbox Live is sort of like taking a ride in wine country on a skateboard.  You’ll have a good time with it, but there are obviously better options available.  Still, when Konami announced KrissX for release last week, we approached it with an open mind, eager to see if it was any kind of fun.  And you know what?  It’s not half bad for what it is.

Here’s how it works.  You work your way through 150 stages of maneuvering letters on a crossword grid.  You’ll need to move them quickly to form legitimate words before time runs out.  Each word, across and down, comes with a clue, like a real crossword puzzle, and you can come back to words in case you’re stuck.  Once the puzzle clears, you’ll rack up a specified number of points and move on to the next round.

There are some interesting gameplay assets thrown in for good measure.  First, occasional word jumbles are thrown in, requiring words to be made in a certain number of moves.  Secondly, little discs will drop down between each round, colored red, yellow and blue (the same as your X, Y and B buttons on your controller).  Hit the coordinating button fast enough and you’ll earn bonus points. These are refreshing add-ons that keep your mind up to speed between rounds, even if the general gameplay doesn’t change over time.

Still, it’s all too easy.  About 20 rounds in and we found ourselves on top of the leaderboards, with very few players to challenge us.  We assume this may pick up over time, but at the moment, there’s really not much of a community for KrissX, which is a letdown.  Furthermore, there’s no multiplayer option, so you can’t throw time-based challenges out to your friends directly.

Fortunately, KrissX makes up for it with a soothing presentation.  Seriously, if you’ve had a rough day at school or work and simply hate the world, turning this game on for several minutes will make you feel better.  The background settings are tranquil, beautiful placeholders, making it easy to see the crossword grid and the coordinated letters within.  The music is also pretty relaxing, although it could use a little more variety outside of the two or three tunes available here.  We don’t have any real problems with the presentation, other than we’re still trying to figure out why an owl with weird-looking hair is cheering us on.

For a word puzzle game, KrissX isn’t half bad.  Still, we can’t help but wonder why it’s priced so high.  Something like this could’ve easily sold for 400 Microsoft points (five dollars) instead of the doubled price it sits at now.  Perhaps Konami will realize that this could be the reason it doesn’t have a huge number of players for the game, and adjust it accordingly.

As it stands, however, if you’re looking for something to pick your brain with and/or love crossword puzzle games to a certain degree, KrissX is worth adding to your library.  More easily could’ve been done here, but there’s just enough word puzzle action, between the grids and the extra mini-games, to catch you under its spell.