Pinocchio's Puzzle Review

This is the kind of game I expected to dislike, but it turns out that playing it is rather pleasant. It's limited, it's simple and it looks a bit odd, but there's something undeniably charming about Pinocchio's Puzzle.

Using the classic public-domain story of Pinocchio as a foundation, Pinocchio's Puzzle presents a series of low-intensity jigsaw puzzles for you to solve. You point at the scattered pieces and pick them up one at a time with the A Button, drag them with more pointing and use the B Trigger to rotate them 90 degrees at a time. You then place them into position with another press of A, while the shadowy background image behind the playing field gives you a clue for which position is correct for each piece.

Again, really easy stuff. But Pinocchio's Puzzle isn't trying to be anything more than an easy-going game for young children, and so it succeeds in achieving its goal. Up to four Wii Remotes can jump in and place pieces simultaneously too, making this one a good option for some family fun -- let your kid take command, but hop on as Player 2 yourself if he or she needs some help.

The character designs are weird, as Pinocchio's got an odd mop of hair in this rendition -- though the visibility of that coiffure can be helpful for solving the puzzles. And there are only about a dozen puzzles, meaning completing the story probably won't take too long. But those issues are counterbalanced by the soothing, lullaby-esque soundtrack and the vivid completed paintings that appear after each successful puzzle solve, and I still can't help but be charmed by the whole experience.

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