One of the perils (or joys) of being the editor of this site is that I rarely get to play games of depth. I just don't have the time. That I review any games at all surprises me. Don't get me wrong; I play them. *grins* I play a lot of casual games. Prism: Light the Way falls into this category — the casual game. It's something I can pick up and play for a few minutes here and there and then put down and come back to later. That is, assuming my brain hasn't melted from twisting around the spatial puzzles. Don't get me wrong ... this is a good thing ... really ... it is ...

The world of Prism is an odd one. There are Black Holes that absorbs light (yes, I know this is not odd). But you see, the light is then sent in the form of lightbeams to Glowbos in another dimension called Oog, who then feed on the lightbeams. What's a Glowbo? Think of a dew drop, only made of energy. But something is amiss ... oh, noes!

A great Star-beast has moved in (not sure where ... the Black Hole perhaps?) and is sucking up all of the light and the not-dew-but-energy Glowbos are now starving. They may fade away. Bulboids to the rescue! (This is you.) Bulboids (you) come from a planet that orbits Oog (the other-dimensional Black Hole where physics works differently, I guess.) Got all that?

No? Let me explain.

There's a board with Glowbos of various colors — white, red, yellow and blue — on the perimeter. They're starving. On this same board, there is any number of Bulboids, or light sources. You need to direct the light from the Bulboids to the Glowbos to feed them. Now you understand the game?

Except there may be obstacles blocking the path of the light. Or, you may have three or four or six Glowbos and only one Bulboid. There could be two yellow, two red and one blue Glowbo and only one Bulboid. Things get a little ... difficult. That's when Gluons come in.

Gluons are items on the board that direct/filter/split the light from the Bulboids so you can feed the Glowbos. They come in multiple flavors (like Quarks!):

• Mirrors — for angles
• T-Splitters — to send a beam perpendicularly in two directions
• Filter Blocks — to change the color of the light
• Prisms — the light enters through the white end and then splits into red, yellow and blue
• Cycloids — these rotate color, and you need to catch them at just the right time

Let me see if I can say this in some sort of plain English.

Through 90 levels of increasing difficulty, you will need to determine how to position the light-emitting Bulboids and the light-direction Gluons on a board that may or may not contain obstructions so that you are not only able to get light to the Glowbos on the perimeter, but to the Glowbo of the correct color. They start simply enough. As you progress, a new light modifier is introduced, as well as more Glowbos, fewer Bulboids or variable colors. But eventually, you'll find yourself at level 29 with ONE Bulboid, a barrier, three T-splitters, one mirror, one prism (all of which can't be rotated) and three white, one blue and one red Glowbo all wanting light. Did I mention the boards aren't square?

There's good news to this mind-bending scheme of light and tongue-twisting words. The puzzle mode isn't timed. It also has a help function if you want it. Ask for help, and it will highlight a piece and tell you where to move it. You can continue asking for help until you complete the entire puzzle if you'd like. (I did this once ... I had to. It was either that or Prozac.)

There's a Timed mode, Hyper mode (kill me now!) and Infinite mode. You also can play in single-cart multiplayer — THANK YOU! In co-op, you each must finish a puzzle but, you only see half the board. For vs., you go head-to-head in a series of puzzles as you lose time.

Usually, I enjoy these types of games but find them limiting due to finishing or hitting a dead end in puzzle mode. But I don't find this to be the case in Prism. The inclusion of timed, hyper and infinite (not to mention single-cart multiplayer) have given this title legs ... long legs. Daddy long-legs spider legs! When my brain starts to hurt from the difficulty of the puzzle stage, I still can enjoy the game in one of the other modes.

Prism: Light the Way is a unique exercise in spatial reasoning. The boards aren't so large as to be overwhelming; in fact, there are times that the small scale is what makes them so daunting. I'm startled that this title is only $19.99. I'd easily have paid $29.99 for it — especially with the ability for co-op. All those years ago, they told me one day I'd need geometry. They were right. Whoever knew it would be so much fun!