It wouldn't be surprising if you'd instantly dismiss Colorz as one of those much maligned titles that often use the last letter of the alphabet, aimed at the young and inexperienced audiences. Unsurprising, but wrong. Luring you in with its vibrant and colorful graphics, Colorz immediately proceeds to smash your head against the gigantic wall that is its learning curve.

The main premise of the game is simple and reminds us of Ikaruga: you control a coloured UFO, crash it into the virus-like enemies of the same colour and you'll absorb them, while any other encounter means your immediate demise. Spread throughout the levels are coloured circles that allow you to change the hue of your craft, thus letting you absorb other bad guys. Easy to understand, just point the on screen cursor and the ship will follow.

French developer Exkee doesn't want you relaxing while playing their game though, so they quickly present you with a second UFO to control with the Nunchuck. Now you have the ability to fuse your ships into one and logically blend the two different colours into a new one, allowing you to absorb new enemies. Remember kids, red light + green light = yellow light.I'm sure you can easily imagine the challenge it is to coordinate two different ships at the same time. Well, it's even harder than it sounds and the fun's not over yet! Bent on annihilating your hopes and dreams, Colorz adds a third ship to the fun, this time controlled by the D-pad. Holding the C button will keep the main ship in place, which is very useful since it's the one controlled by IR it'll be moving around a lot, but it's still one more button to add to your dismay.

You will be hard pressed to find a game that tests your coordination like this. With your attention divided between three different ships, three different methods of control and each with its color and thus its enemy. Your eyes will be moving from side to side, up and down never able to rest in one spot of the screen, your brain will be working overtime trying to decide which UFO goes where and what colours to mix while your hands and fingers are asked to do all this with precision and speed.

If you don't let the game get the best of you and keep on retreading levels, your brain will no doubt evolve and mutate and what seemed impossible will become somewhat feasible, levels that couldn't be beat suddenly seem slower and your reflexes are sharper leading to a sense of satisfaction and a lot of times relief when you finish a level. Just like in a lot of classic arcade shooters, you will have to be in a sort of zen state of mind to survive while the screen pans faster and faster forcing you to navigate through corridors of coloured viruses with the camera zooming out showing just how big the rabbit hole really goes.

And while we love a challenge and appreciate a game that doesn't hold your hand the entire way the truth is that Colorz is just too hard. Even with the game rewarding you with extra lifes as you repeat levels, there is a point where everything just feels like a cruel and unfair chore instead of an adrenaline surging dare to your skills. The invincible enemies that appear later on, together with an indistinguishable orgy of colours and higher speed will make you want to smash the TV not to mention that the IR controls feel a bit sluggish and aren't always up to the task.

If you want to challenge yourself even further, you can obviously go for the high score by absorbing the biggest numbers of virus possible and brushing against different colours as long as you can. At the end of the levels you'll be awarded with medals, but oddly they're not affected at all by your score but by the number of lives you lost: gold if you don't lose a single time, silver if you lose less than 5 ships and bronze otherwise.

But if it's too much to ask of a single person, multiplayer is much easier to enjoy. If you're playing with just one friend, you'll play levels with 2 ships, while 3 players can go for 3 ship levels. With only one ship to focus on (controlled with the pointer), the immense frustration disappears and shows that this game or at least its mechanics were made to be enjoyed with others, not alone. Still, players need to be on their feet and in constant communication in order to fuse the correct colors or clear a path, creating a fun cooperative experience.

Even if the art style isn't mindblowing, the generous use of colour, energetic animations and dozens of bright viruses on the screen make Colorz a very eye pleasing game. The well made and intuitive menus take you right to the action in no time, making the game flow smoothly with the exception of the repetitive and unskippable hint screens, something we could do without. The energetic soundtrack deserves mention, fitting like a glove amidst the colourful acid trip experience although it can get repetitive.

In the end, one cannot deny that Exkee made the game with care and attention, delivering a game that deviates from the instant gratification and drab palettes most games nowadays show, but it's also impossible to overlook that despite the enjoyable and adrenaline inducing moments it's a very frustrating single player experience, even for those who like hard games. Colorz is definitely more comfortable on the multiplayer territory even if isn't groundbreaking and it's worth the 700 points only for those looking for something different to play with their friends or a soul crushing challenge.