Welcome to the coolest Nonogram/Picross game on the iPhone.
Color Cross is one of those games that feels like it was destined for the iPhone from the beginning. It’s the latest “nonogram” or “picross” game from Little Worlds Studio. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the Wikipedia article here. It’s a simple-yet-challenging concept that some compare to Sudoku, just with less math and more pictures. 
The great thing about Color Cross, is if you know absolutely nothing about this game, it comes with both a normal and video tutorial in game!
Color Cross takes picross to the next level with, well, colors! Normally picross games have you making simple two-tone images. Color Cross adds on many “layers” of color depending on the image. You can freely switch between the different layers at will, as each color will have different number values. Sometimes if you’re stuck it’s best to skip to the next color.
You fill squares in the grid by tapping. You can start filling an entire row by holding your finger on the screen and dragging. This was a really smart feature, as it helps for long rows of color. You can also mark sqaures that you know don’t contain any color. The end result is a icon-like 
pixel picture relating to whatever category you are playing in.
It may sound boring, but it’s quite addicting playing to figure out what the next picture will be. For each puzzle you complete, you unlock one part of a larger picture. This doesn’t really mean much, but is a nice little incentive. You also unlock new categories as you go along. I’m pretty sure I’ve unlocked about 5 or 6 so far, each with it’s own set of 15 or so puzzles to solve. There are 10 themes, and 150 puzzles in classic mode, as well as 200 in arcade mode, which is solving one puzzle after another in sequence.
Presentation & Graphics
ColorCross looks and plays very well. The menus are very slick, and the animations through out the game are smooth and sexy. The game has great use of color in backgorunds and the levels themselves, and is all around pleasing to the eyes. The presentation is top notch from start to finish.
Sound
Very fitting and high quality sound effects. Music is great too, but there are only 2 tracks that I noticed. You can play your ipod music if you want, which makes up for this!
Gameplay
Almost perfect. Tapping and holding to drag and fill a row is extremely convenient. The farther you zoom out, the less accurate your taps become, so just be sure to zoom in when you are placing colors. The addition of different colors really adds a lot more strategy to the game, and makes the end picture look a lot cooler. There are occasions when you may accidently paint the wrong square.
Gamelife
With 350 total puzzles between classic and arcade modes, this is a game that will keep you coming back for a long time. It’s designed to be easy to pick up and play in short increments, and it works perfectly in this respect. It would be cool to see some sort of user created puzzles, but that’s more an extra feature for an already great game.
Game Rating – EDITOR’S CHOICE
Quite frankly, picross on the iPhone doesn’t get any better than this. The game oozes with charm and polish from the moment you start to completing a puzzle. It’s highly addicting, and with hundreds of puzzles, will keep you entertained for a very long time. Other than maybe a few more music tracks, I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with the game if I tried. Every potential issue was taken care of by the brilliant UI and excellent tutorials. Sure, picross games aren’t for everyone, but Color Cross is hard not enjoy. It’s an absolute steal at $3.99.
