There are four main differences (and I think improvements) from the original Connect Unlimited to the sequel:
- The levels are better
- Unlimited means something
- Bridges/Portals vs. Bridges/Bends/Hexagons/Crosses/Hex Bridges
- Hint Mode vs. Show Hint
Better Levels
To show the difference, here are 30 levels of the same board size from both of the games:
The levels from the original are on the left – these are the first 30 levels of the 10×10 pack in the game. The levels from the sequel are on the right – these are the 30 10×10 levels in the Standard E #6 pack.
I think the difference is pretty clear. The levels in the original tend to be square-y and uneven (in terms of line length, distribution of dots, etc). For example:
You won’t see this type of level in Connect Unlimited 2 because similarity filtering eliminates them. Only the top 1% of the levels according to similarity scores are included in the game. Additionally, the level generator was improved considerably between the versions, however this is a smaller factor in the improved levels.
The levels are the biggest reason I didn’t push the original Connect Unlimited like I did CTD: Shadows and CTD: Portals.
The sequel achieves what the original could not: levels that are as good as the leading numberlink puzzle game: Flow Free. How do I know this? Because I can’t tell the difference between my levels and those in Flow Free (which I have tested thoroughly).
Given that Flow Free has 100 million downloads and charges $0.99-$1.99 for additional level packs of 150 levels, I consider this a success.
Unlimited Means Something
The second major issue I have with Connect Unlimited is that in my opinion, the Unlimited part isn’t taken advantage of. It’s not for lack of trying – as the game features four game modes:
The levels for three of the modes are generated within the app – hence the name of the game. The simplest of these is Random Mode:
Select the level type and board sizes, and you’ll get random levels generated in the program of about the same quality shown above. The problem of course is that there is no progress and thus no reason to play it.
The other two modes use a timer as a motivating factor:
Arcade mode uses this wacky scoring and timing system, where the points increase exponentially, and the time to complete a level gradually decreases.
Challenge mode gives you specific challenges to complete, like the one shown above.
The 2 minutes and 28 second limit shows the… limitation of both of these modes. The times were determined based on my own playing speed, and I am probably a bit faster than most people having played 5 billion more levels than any person on the planet.
Thus, nobody plays them, not even myself, because I prefer my puzzle games not to have a time limit.
Classic Mode
Classic Mode is the only one that anyone plays including myself, and there is nothing unlimited about the levels:
In this mode the levels are grouped into 60 packs of 150 levels each based on the level type and the board size. Thus, there is at least a sense of progress as you complete levels in the packs, as shown above.
One issue with the packs in the original: 150 levels of the same board size/type can get pretty dull. Another issue is shown above: The packs with the small board sizes take a fraction of the amount of time that the ones with the large board sizes do – which sometimes require actual thought.
I don’t always want to think, which is why I basically stopped partway through the 11×11 pack here. Connect Unlimited 2 offers only the “classic” mode type, but addresses both of these in what I think is a really clever way, all while earning it’s name (kind of..):
While the right hand side of the pack list makes it look like I haven’t done anything – it is the left side where all the progress is displayed. The numbers show that I am now on the 65th level pack of Standard A – having completed 64 packs of 120 levels each – all of which are very easy, even by the standards of the average 2 year old. The different colored and styled boxes are basically the entire motivation to play the game, but for me that is enough.
Another useless but also incredibly cool feature is shown here:
I can go back to any of the previous 64 versions of Standard A and play any of those levels. I could fix my imperfection on #23, should I choose. Of course, there is really no reason to do this, when you can play brand new levels of the same size/type instead.
In a way, it even does the “timed” game mode better than the original Connect Unlimited:
While I was a bit hesitant to keep track and display the time taken for the levels in this game (and I still am, as sometimes I feel “pressured” to keep my stats in line), it does give you the option of playing through a pack with the goal of beating your best time.
While the 1.74 seconds per level on Standard A #56 was achieved by cheating and replaying levels that I wasn’t fast on initially, but oh well, it’s still pretty damn fast. The timer also doesn’t start for a level until you touch the board, so you can figure it out before doing so and greatly improve your time.
Besides Standard A, there are another 23 pack templates in CU2, though most of them are pointless as the levels require thinking, which is not the point of the game (getting pretty colored boxes with the numbers in them).
Bridges/Portals vs. Bridges/Bends/Hexes/Crosses/Hex Bridges
Both games have the basic numberlink puzzles with nothing more.
As shown above, the levels for these are pretty crappy in the original compared to the sequel (or Flow Free).
Not lacking features, there are a full 5 other types of levels in Connect Unlimited – 3 of them feature hexagonal boards. Here is a level from the 12×12 hex bridges pack:
While it looks kind of crazy and cool (in my opinion), the level is obviously computer generated, and the other levels look pretty much the same. It’s also not particularly hard to solve, despite the appearance since many of the cells are “forced.”
The sequel takes more of a minimalist approach, partly to make the levels look more human like. This is about as crazy as you’re going to get:
It was also a lot harder to solve this than the previous one.
Hint Mode vs. Show Hint
Hint mode is cool, at least in Connect Unlimited 2. It is useful, but not nearly as cool in CTD: Shadows and CTD: Portals.
Hint mode lets you solve a puzzle without making you feel dumb, even though you probably are. Show hint basically just solves it for you, which makes you feel dumb. Hint mode wins. Yay me.