Ziro Review (PC)

Who would have thought a snowman could have such an effect on global warming? Well here’s a game from kookakiki, developed by Eipix, that can offer just that. Not only offering helpful and motivational ways of saving the environment but combining it with fun puzzles that can also improve your basic math skills in a very fun and stimulating way.

That’s right Ziro is a man on a mission taking you all over the world to different continents and countries to solve puzzles and cool the Earth down in the process. The game play itself is very much point and click but the thought process behind it requires a lot more logic. In each level you are given a grid where you have to move dice of the same number around the obstacles mach them all up and the level is complete. If all games were as simple as this we would be laughing non-stop.

Here’s where those numeracy skills come into play each die has a value of up to nine on it so if you have four dice in play say two dice reading three the other reading four you can either add the numbers together by moving the dice next to one another and simply merging them together to make one die and then matching the two remaining dice together to complete the level. Obviously the amount of adding and subtracting varies in difficulty the more you progress through the levels but the concept is all together the same throughout the game.

This does indeed also sound very simple and this is where another twist comes into play, you need to move the dice around the area and obstacles which are mainly blocks which can serve different purposes sometimes to your advantage sometimes hindering your level. Some blacks cannot be moved others evaporate some can be moved once but not again. And it was this layout and different challenges to the levels that made this game not only appealing to me but in a way slightly addictive as the idea was simple but the thought kept me more than entertained