Purble Place is a game that is aimed at teenagers and pre-teens. However, I feel that there is actually enough fun here that anyone can have a go and enjoy themselves with Purble Place.
Windows Vista
Am I really talking about Windows Vista right now? Well, that is the origins of Purble Place. It originally started life as a free game that was part of the Windows Vista OS. It built up a bit of a cult following (kind of like Minesweeper and that weird skiing game did) and now it can be played on Windows 10.
Purble Place was publicly introduced in Windows Vista build 521 along with Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans. Games in Purble Place. The collection has a single home screen that offers three packs of games: Purble Pairs, Comfy Cakes, and Purble Shop. Purble Pairs is a pattern recognition and memory game similar to Pelmanism.
Three In One
The shtick of Purble Place is that it is actually three games in one. These are puzzle based games and I would say that there is a high chance that there is at least one game out of the three that you will like. Presentation wise, Purble Place is not going to blow you away (and this was the case when it was first released too) but it is pleasant enough. Gameplay is available at different difficulty levels. While this is a “kids” game, the harder difficulties are rather challenging.
Purble Pairs
The first game I want to talk about is Purble Pairs. As the name suggests this is the classic game pairs. It starts off simple with just a few pairs, but as you progress more pairs for you to find get added. What I like about Purble Pairs is that first of all pairs is a game that I have always found very relaxing. This version though also has special cards that do special things. Joker cards, for example, will find another pair for you. A clock card gives you more time, Master Chef who will find all the pairs that are food! These are fun and when you get the chance to use one it is actually quite exciting.
Comfy Cakes
This reminds me of a more basic version of the game Overcooked. The idea of Comfy Cakes is that you are a chef and you will be needing some Spider-Man levels of hand-eye coordination when you get to the later levels. Orders come in for some delicious cakes and you need to get all of the ingredients off the conveyor belt. You need to get the right shape of cake, the color of batter and so on.You can only mess up three orders before it is game over. The higher the level, the faster and more complicated things get. This is one of those games where you have to try and think two or three moves ahead. It is fun and one of the more nerve-wracking games in Purble Place.
Purble Shop
I would say that Purble Shop is my least favorite of the three games. The idea here is that you need to help a little dude look sharp. The AI is going to decide the colors of up to five different aspects of the person. These are their eyes, nose, mouth, clothes, and hat. It is not all five on the earlier levels. The AI will give you the colors and then you need to figure out what body part is what color.
The early levels are super simple as if you guessed a couple right but got some wrong, the AI tells you what ones you got right. On the higher levels, this is not the case. It will tell you what color you got right, but not for what body part. This is pretty tough and gives you a real mental workout.
I think that Purble Place is a pretty neat game and back in the day it was something fun that as included with windows. I can see why it has a bit of a cult following with people who had Windows Vista a few years back and I do actually think there is a fair bit of charm here. If you ask me Purble Pairs and Comfy Cakes are two games that are actually really fun, Purble Shop, on the other hand, was not something I really enjoyed.
7/10
Pros:
- Charming presentation
- Three games in one
- You may get some strong nostalgia feelings
- Purble Pairs is a fun take on pairs
- Comfy Cakes is exciting, fun and nerve-wracking
Cons:
- Purble Shop is kind of boring
- Not exactly a new game
| Purble Place | |
|---|---|
Screenshot of Purble Shop under Purble Place on Windows 7 | |
| Developer(s) | Oberon Games |
| Platform(s) | Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | action, mysteries |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Purble Place is a suite of three computer games.[1] Developed by Oberon Games for Microsoft, it was introduced in Windows Vista and also is included in Windows 7.
History[edit]
Purble Place was publicly introduced in Windows Vista build 5219[2][3] along with Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans.
Games in Purble Place[edit]
The collection has a single home screen that offers three packs of games: Purble Pairs, Comfy Cakes, and Purble Shop.[4]
Play Purble Place Cake Game
Purble Pairs is a pattern recognition and memory game similar to Pelmanism. The object is to clear the tableau in the fewest turns. As the skill level progresses, the game becomes timed, the grid size increases, and more similar pictures are used. The Beginner level has one 5x5 grid, Intermediate has two 6x6 grids, and Advanced has four 8x8 grids to solve per game. In addition to a joker that automatically finds another match of an exposed card, numerous special pairs are present in the higher levels: such as a card of the batter machine in Comfy Cakes that shuffles the board when paired, a clock that adds more time to the timer, and a Master Chef that automatically finds and matches pairs of cards containing cakes. A sneak peek coin bonus allows the player to expose all remaining cards for a couple of seconds, but every card exposed in this way is counted as a turn.
Comfy Cakes is a hand-eye coordination game. The object is to fill orders in a bakery by assembling a cake to match a given specification, by controlling a conveyor belt that brings the cake to various stations. Elements of the cake include shapes (square, circular or heart-shaped), flavor of batter (strawberry, chocolate or vanilla), optional icing (flavors as used in the batter) and other decorations (e.g. sugar may be sprinkled on top of the cake, and in rarer cases, flames are applied to iced cakes to create a smooth glaze). If the cake does not match the specification, the player is penalized and the cake gets thrown in the trash. If the player sends three incorrect orders, the game is over. After a certain number of correct orders are shipped, the player wins the game, and the score is tabulated. The final score depends upon the number of cakes baked, the number of incorrect orders sent and the efficiency of the player in baking. At higher levels the specifications become more complex and multiple cakes must be manufactured in parallel on a single conveyor belt. The player makes about 5 or 6 cakes in one of the difficulty levels.
Purble Shop is a code-breaker game. The computer decides the color of up to five features (hat, eyes, nose, mouth and clothes) that are concealed from the player. you can choose from a assortment of colors, and a color can be used once, several times or not used at all. The player then attempts to deduce or guess the correct feature colors in a limited number of moves. There are three difficulty levels: Beginner with three features in three possible colors for 33 = 27 different possible solutions, Intermediate with 44 = 256 solutions, and Advanced with 55 = 3125 solutions. The beginner and intermediate levels are guessing games where after each move the computer tells the player which items were correct, so there is little scope for deduction. At the advanced level the computer doesn't tell the player which specific items were correct, reporting only the count of picks in the correct color and position, and the count of picks in the correct color but the wrong position. This level is similar to the colored peg game Mastermind where success requires logical reasoning (although, there is a small chance of succeeding through lucky guesses).
Purble Place Game Cake House
References[edit]
- ^'Purble Place - Microsoft Windows Vista Games, Page 2'. Windows.about.com. 2013-06-24. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
- ^Clyman, John (13 September 2005). 'Inside Windows Vista Build 5219'. PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
- ^Paul Thurrott (2010-10-06). 'Microsoft Windows Vista Build 5219 (Community Technical Preview 1) Review | Product Review content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows'. Winsupersite.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- ^James Yu (July 24, 2006). 'A Look at Windows Vista Installed Games, Page 3'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-30.