QuantZ is a puzzle game with extremely shiny menus and additionally shiny gameplay, but that’s only part of what kept me enjoying it and its different game modes. When I first started playing QuantZ I made the mistake of thinking it’d be an easy write up since it’s a puzzle game, and I initially thought it similar to others I’d played. That, I can assure you, was not the case.

I had a hard time reviewing QuantZ, but not because I didn’t like it, but because there was so much I liked and wanted to describe. Finally I settled on simply telling you that it’s a fun, intuitive and shiny game. Now that the basics are covered, let’s jump into the first game mode.

The first one up, of three, is Action Mode, which is focused less on concrete strategy and more on simply racking up points, progressing through levels and moving up in ranks. At the start of the game, you’re presented with a large blue cube covered in different colored spheres. These spheres are called “quantz” and you’ll be shooting your own quantz at these stationary balls in order to cause an explosion of color and shimmer via the left-mouse button. This sort of setup I’ve seen in other titles, but here two unique features appear that I greatly enjoyed playing with.

The first is the ability to literally freeze gameplay to analyze the situation, stop the timer and generally get a feel for your cosmic surroundings before hurling quantz into the giant blue cube suspended in space. You can take a guess at the best course of action and plan your next move before committing to a potential disaster on the board. Another feature I found fun that added to pondering and creation of strategy was being able to move the entire cube with my mouse.

This ability is useful two-fold in that you can aim your attacking quantz at any point on the cube, but also some quantz shift position as you move the cube, which allows you to more effectively attack with quantz. Yep, you can literally slide and push quantz into prime position for ultimate explosion glory by moving the cube and shaping the level how you’d like it. Power over quantz position and freezing time were definitely high on my list of positives. Sometimes I found myself just twisting the cube haphazardly to watch the little quantz balls slide around to see where they’d end up.

All of this setup and finally, with a sweat-covered brow and intense breathing (depending on the general health of the AC unit in my apartment), I’d launch the quantz and watch the labors of my planning come to fruition. Whenever three quantz are clustered together, they’ll get destroyed and there’s a chance you’ll get to launch a fireball of that cluster’s color. This enables you to swiftly destroy even more of that color. This can be a great advantage when you’re trying to get a high score by getting rid of a color quickly or clear all of the quantz within a certain timeframe.

With each additional score you’ll gain ranks and be able to access harder and more varied levels throughout Action Mode. However, QuantZ caters to different play styles. If quick scoring and rapid cube-clearing action isn’t for you then either Strategy or Puzzle Mode might be right. Strategy Mode has a set arrangement of quantz with the objective of clearing all of the quantz with as few attacking quantz as possible.

You still gain points and bonuses for doing things like clearing all of a certain color fast enough, but the key is planning out your quantz so they’re most effective and most efficient. That sort of thing can be pretty easy at the onset, but when you’re trying for a certain number of quantz to clear a board and you’ve already completed a slew of strategy areas, then the challenge really sets in.

Along with explosions and fireballs, Strategy Mode has quantz that don’t always move when you spin the cube gameplay area. This makes arranging the quantz all the more important and tricky indeed yet pretty dang fun. The third game mode of Quantz, Puzzle Mode, takes this tricky non-sliding quantz feature and uses it even more effectively.

Puzzle Mode presents you with set quantz that you need to destroy before time runs out and with the correct placements of quantz. Some quantz slide when you twist the cube; others don’t, and you’ll have to trust yourself that the last few moves you did will be the right combinations to solve the puzzle. I found this mode immensely enjoyable and challenging — puzzles to make me ponder and scratch my invisible goatee at certainly.

The three game modes mix together well and all fit the general theme of cosmic shimmering puzzle solving, yet they all stand apart well enough to present their own unique challenge. This medley of gameplay types really adds to the replay value of QuantZ. I found myself playing a few rounds of Puzzle Mode, switching to Strategy or Action Mode, then going back to Puzzle Mode a while later. This versatility of QuantZ combined with the excellent visual effects of the gameplay, from the colorful world to the color palette of the quantz themselves, made for a fun and great-looking game.

Although, what I didn’t expect was this to be a great-sounding game, too. It was a pleasant surprise. There are times when game music will grate on your nerves to the point where loops make you want to simply mute everything. I didn’t feel like this option even needed to be investigated since the flow of the game gelled in fantastic fashion with the background music as I made my way through each puzzle or cluster of quantz.

The music feels inspired by the cosmic ambience and doesn’t bring attention to itself. All of the sound simply adds to the immersion of the world of the cube in space and the exploding little dots. Wrapped up in the shimmering, shiny (but not too much), colorful world, QuantZ is a fresh fun take on an experience that’s been crafted many times. There’s a piece of everything for a lot of different gamers out there, and each game mode caters to a type of puzzle gamer. I’d say if you’re up for some shiny exploding goodness, then go for it and get QuantZ. You don’t even need sunglasses to dial down the shimmer.