There are so many droid apps to choose from that it can be very difficult to decide what you need to purchase and which games are really a good value for the money (or the disk space, in the case of free apps). At least that has always been a huge challenge for me. I am a huge fan of puzzle games, so I was excited to try MegaFlux. So far, my excitement over the game is well founded as it has proven to be a tricky and entertaining puzzle game.

On first loading it, the background reminds me of The Matrix with weird symbols running in lines down the screen. When you’re playing, you won’t see this though, so it won’t distract you. The puzzle is a grid of varying size, depending on the level. It is quite clear where the edges of everything are, which is very important in a game like this. I like that the colors of the Flux stream make it really easy to see what is going where. Both the cyan and yellow are very bright. The encrypted streams of blue and orange aren’t quite as bright, but they’re very easy to see too. The way the tiles stand out makes it easy to see at a glance what you have on the board to use. The music has an almost haunting sound to me, but yet it is soothing. I really like the background music as it doesn’t distract you from playing, but rather enhances the experience.

Basically, MegaFlux is a twist on the classic "pipe" games. In MegaFlux, you will need to send power streams to a processor to get it running. These processors can need only one or several different colors of Flux streams to complete them. There are yellow, cyan, and green Flux streams that a processor can need. You will also see orange and blue streams, but these will have to be decrypted first. Orange is the encrypted yellow while blue is the encrypted cyan. Green Flux can be created by mixing the yellow and the cyan or can be produced as its own stream.

From the Main Menu, there are two different ways you can play, Relax Mode and Challenge Mode. The basic game is the same, but the scoring and timing is different. In Relax Mode, there are three different difficulty levels: green, yellow and red. Each difficulty has continually increasing grid sizes, but you will have to play them in order starting at the 4x4 grid. You can’t just skip to the largest one.

Challenge Mode consists of many worlds each with 9 levels. These levels vary in size and get more difficult as you go. You can go back and replay any of the previous ones to try and get more stars, but just like Relax Mode, you will have to play the levels in order. The final level of each world is a boss level where you will have to deal with an infected processor.

There is also an Editor available. In the Editor, you can create your own levels with pieces that you have earned playing the other levels. You earn pieces and grid sizes for each level you finish in Challenge Mode. These pieces can be used in the Editor for making your own puzzles. Relax Mode will only earn you new grid sizes, so if you want to edit, you better get to the challenges.

The first couple of worlds of the Challenge Mode in MegaFlux are really easy. I didn’t have to restart or even think much until I got to World Three. From there on, I found the difficultly significantly increased. Not only do you have to deal with placing the tiles, but you have to keep in mind which color is stronger than the others to get things in just the right place. It is entirely possible to be defeated on a level. If you turn the tiles such that the NegaFlux (infected stream) reaches the Capacitor, then the Capacitor will get infected and you will lose. Of course, if you really want a challenge, go into Relax Mode and try out the red puzzles. The further you get into them, the more difficult they get. I would guess it’ll take you hours to solve them all.

You really want to try and get a Perfect score as you will get bonus points for it, but that’s not as easy as you might think. For a Perfect, you have to turn the minimum number of tiles to complete the puzzle, which means you need to think about it in advance or you might hit the wrong one. Of course, since you need to do this as quickly as possible too, you can’t spend too much time just thinking about it! Your time affects the number of stars that you get for the puzzle (up to three stars). If you take too long, it is entirely possible (yes I have done it) to get less than three stars, even if you get the Perfect bonus for the level. I did find that since you are given the shape that the components are going to be, you can use that to figure out which spot they will go in a bit easier.

To play MegaFlux, you will be turning tiles that are already on the board and adding more tiles to specific spots. Components are different from normal tiles. They will let you modify the Flux stream, which can be quite handy. The Reverser will change the color of the Flux stream. To throw in even more of a twist, there are encrypted streams as I mentioned before. When you run across one of these, you will need to use a Decrypter Component before the stream reaches the processor. Encrypted streams can also be reversed, so as you can see, you will need to figure out how to stack these things just right. There are Infected processors to worry about as well. These will have to be dealt with by using a green SuperFlux, which you may have to make with a Capacitor. There are SuperFlux Generators for some levels. While this all sounds complicated, it’s really not that hard to deal with. Sometimes these Components will need to be placed on the board in the correct spot. To place them, you simply have to tap on the component and drag it to where you want it to go. There are quite a few other types of components for you to use, but MegaFlux is really good about explaining them well before you see them. You’ll get the hang of turning and placing things pretty quickly. Learning how to solve the puzzle is all up to you!

The only real problem I have found with the controls is that there is no way to drag a component off of the board after you have placed it. You can switch it with another component from the selection at the bottom, but if you put them all on the board so that there is nothing to switch it with at the bottom, you will have to start over. I found that it would be really handy to be able to drag one on top of another and just switch them that way.

If you are playing on your phone and get a phone call, MegaFlux will pause your game for you when you answer the phone. At least, it did that for me all but one time. That one time, unfortunately it simply kicked me out of the level and I had to restart it. Otherwise, I had no trouble taking calls in the middle of a level and picking up right where I was.

So far, I have spent more than a couple hours playing MegaFlux and there is still so much left for me to do. Most of that has been concentrated on the Challenge Mode, so I’ve still got plenty more hours in Relax Mode left. For a game that is free, that’s quite impressive. If you are playing the free version, you will notice an ad running across the very bottom of the screen at all times. I did not find it intrusive or distracting. You don’t ever have to pause your playing just to watch an ad. You can buy the ad-free version for only $1.99, which will also come with five hints, which is a pretty good deal if you ask me! If you’re looking for a new puzzle game, I recommend you check out MegaFlux today, especially if you are a fan of pipe games. It should provide you many hours of entertainment!