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Set in the far reaches of space, Starcrossed is a puzzle game that will keep you busy for hours. There are plenty of levels, various modes and challenges to unlock. The purpose of the game is to clear the levels, but there is also a story behind it all. The goddess Ione needs your help to rescue her friends, and somehow by completing these puzzles, you're doing the cosmos a favor.

The game is set in a grid with various celestial shapes that take up each square. There is only one empty square that will allow you to push pieces around. This is very much like those plastic square toy puzzles in which you try to slide your numbered square pieces in numerical order. There is no real order for Starcrossed. All you need to do is push four of a kind together in a tight square to make the pieces disappear. Other shapes will take their place, and any other similar pieces that were directly touching the original four also will disappear (diagonals don't count).

In the main menu, you have Untimed, Timed and Challenge modes at first. Mastermind, Speedblitz and Madness modes are unlocked once you've completed the first three. In Untimed and Timed mode, the goal is to light up all the grids. To do so, you need to clear celestial pieces in those areas. In Untimed, you obviously are not on a timer, but you have an energy bar that decreases each time to move a piece. By clearing out pieces, you'll regain that energy. In Timed mode, it works the same way except your energy bar constantly is decreasing. Challenge mode contains a fair number of levels that have different requirements for each. They are categorized, and you unlock more by completing previous levels and collecting points. There are three pages of levels, 16 each.

Depending on your finishing score, each time you get a bronze star, that's the equivalent of one point. Silver earns you two; gold will give you three; and a perfect score will grant you four points. By collecting points, you can unlock the next page. The benefit of Challenge mode is that each level is slightly different. For example, some levels won't have that empty space for you to slide your pieces around; instead, you'll have to rotate three or four pieces at a time.

I was never very good at those numbered slider games, and when they put a timer or an energy bar to limit the amount of moves you make, that makes it much harder for me to complete these levels. I found myself stuck a lot, especially on the levels in which you have black holes that just hinder your progress. They're like locked pieces that don't move, and to clear them, you need to clear pieces around them. In some levels, the grid is very narrow with protruding segments, making it tricky to slide pieces around.

Thankfully in Timed and Untimed mode, there are checkpoints that you reach so that you can start from that level. Otherwise, when you leave a game, it only creates a temporary save file, and unless you come back to play the same mode, it will be deleted.

The background images for Starcrossed are gorgeous. The gods and goddesses as well as the colorful wonders of space are the backdrop to your game of sliding around mood-shaped pieces. The music also is very soothing. Mellow trance music was very fitting for this game, especially if you're going to spend a good deal of time playing.

Starcrossed is a challenging puzzle game for those who really enjoyed those number slider game. This is no Bejeweled, and it takes a lot of patience to get through these levels. Despite the pleasant visuals and ambiance, I found myself getting bored, because even though I was hitting checkpoints, the end seemed to be so far away. It also didn't help that I was getting stuck on a few levels, and after replaying it a few times, I just lost the will to keep going. Then again, I'm not very good at puzzle games, but I can see someone like my mom, who excels at puzzle games, to find this one rather fun for long periods of time.