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8 Floor Games has continued with its drive to populate the digital world of Jigsaw puzzle game play.  The company’s latest collection of Jigsaw puzzle is entitled 1001 Jigsaw Castles and Palaces 3.  Like the other titles in this particular series, this collection is made up of 500 images that represent ancient architecture and other elements that have come to be regarded as the popular concept of Medieval Europe.

In a similar manner to the other titles in the company’s 1001 series, the collection of 500 images has been sub-divided and presented in five books for easy selection for the chosen Jigsaw image.  The 100 images featured in each book are laid out four to a page with the book being accessed as if it was a photo album.  A number that represents the default number of pieces for that puzzle accompanies each image.  This number could range from 10 up to 252.  Icons indicating whether the pieces making up the Jigsaw will need to be rotated or not when placed in the puzzle will accompany the number.

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When examining one of the five photo albums making up this collection, a series of icon will be arranged across the bottom of the screen.  These icons give you access to some useful available features.   You can view trophies awarded for completing Jigsaw, check out recorded best scores set by other puzzle solvers and make use of the means to carry out any modifications to the default settings for the chosen image either before or after you have completed the chosen Jigsaw.  You also get the option to complete the current Jigsaw in its default state by clicking on the centrally positioned Play button.

One of the available tools that I tend to use on a regular basis is the Border tool.  This will temporally remove all the inner pieces of the puzzle and just leave you with the edge pieces to construct the border of the image.  Using the mouse cursor, pieces can be dragged around and placed in position.  A degree of accuracy will be required so that the current piece automatically connects to its designated place.  If the Rotate option is implemented then you might need to use the right mouse button to rotate the selected pieces in order to position it. Once completed, the inner pieces will be returned so they can be fitted and the puzzle completed.

Other tools available include a Sort option which, when used, arranges the pieces into groups that I found were not too helpful.  Of more help were the options to display an image of the chosen image.  This could either be as a ghost image on which you position the pieces of the Jigsaw or an image located to one side giving a view of the final picture.  There is also an option to ask for a Hint as to your next move.

Rather than sticking with the default settings for each image, there is, as mentioned earlier, an option to make adjustments to the Jigsaw difficulty.  These adjustments affect the puzzle aspect of the image but not its overall appearance.  You can increase or decrease the number of pieces in the puzzle and also alter the angle at which the pieces fit together.  There is also have the chance to turn on or off the Rotation option applied to the pieces.

As with the earlier products in this series, I feel that the company has missed an opportunity to add extra value to the title by not adding any information about the images featured.  After all Jigsaws were originally developed and use as education tools and I felt disappointed that no interesting facts of the different scenes were included as part of the package.  I downloaded my copy of this title from Gamehouse.com where it is priced at $9.99.  The game requires a 1.0 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 154MB of hard disk space running Windows 7 and later.

1001 Jigsaw Castles and Palaces 3 | GameHouse