Fugue

Fugue is a game, and a basic game at that.
For those who saw the “music” and “melody” part of the description on Steam, ignore it. This game has nothing to do with actual music, there just happens to be music creation, of sorts, within the game. If you’re a music nut, this game isn’t for you. If you like to relax and do simple “1+1=2″ maths with the pay-off being you make a four note “song” then it is.
Now that that’s out the way, let’s get down to brass tax.

Pros:
– It functions as a game, which is a lot these days, apparently.
– Stylised like drawing on a piece of paper is aesthetically pleasing.
– No learning curve, almost not enough to have an age barrier, the puzzles are so simple.
– Everything works smoothly, and is self-explanatory.
– Lack of music is made up with ambient noise such as birdsong or light traffic, which is equally pleasing and provides a calming, almost meditative atmosphere.
– When you complete the puzzle, the tiny song is played back and is quite nice amidst the ambient noise of the street.
– The maths simple, but it’s not just addition, it throws other assortments of puzzles at you.

Cons:
– The description of the game is a little misleading for some people. They mention music stuff twice, and it leads people to thinking that this is a more music-based game, which it is not.
– While there’s no shortage of levels and different puzzles, it gets to a point where you already know what you’re doing in the 40th puzzle and there’s nothing new. I’ll suggest stuff below.
– The motorbike in the ambient noise is damn loud, I took off my headset to find it wasn’t actually a real one.
– While not really a con, I’d like more levels.
– Not a lot of the “songs” actually formed nice melodies.

Alright, so this little game is great. If you’ve just finished an enraging match of whatever multiplayer game you’re into nowadays, or you had trouble Getting Over It, this game is pleasant enough to just gently ease you out of it.
Even if you’re still angwy about it not actually being a music game. Occasionally, it works better than my Chamomile tea.

When it comes to suggestions for the game, I see people on steam take a musical approach to it, and that’s completely fine as they wish for the game to be more musical.
I, however, will take my inspiration for my suggestions from another game with moving objects. Match 3 games, especially Chuzzle. A way to bump the game’s puzzle up a notch could be to have some notes locked in place, or have notes tied to each other, so if you move the bird up from 4 to 5, the one that it’s attached to moves up from 3 to 4 and so on.
Then yes, finally, maybe the idea about chords, I’m no music person, so I have no idea how they’d do that, but it sounds tricky, so I’d like it.

All in all, I recommend this game. I would not say it is worth its £3.99 price for the amount you’d actually play it. Perhaps wait until you have a coupon, or it’s on sale.

Zesty Rating
7 Out Of 10 Paws

A fun little puzzle game with musical notes, but not much else musically. It has fooled numerous people into thinking it’s actually a music game, but is really just a simple maths game. Cute, calming and generally pleasant. Worth a shot with a discount.