Colors Live Review

Relaxing. If only one word was used for Colors Live, that’s what it would be.

Following on from the success of Colors3D on 3DS, Colors Live is the Nintendo Switch iteration of the series.

One thing that eagle eyed readers will notice right away is that there isn’t a stylus with the Nintendo Switch (unless you factor in the one that came with Super Mario Maker 2, of course).

The solution to this is to use the Sonar Pen which has been specially designed for Colors Live. By utilising some pretty great tech, the pen is powered through the headphone jack on the Switch. It is then able to send measurements back and forth to determine your brushstrokes, as well as how hard the strokes are by using sound.

It works extremely well, and I was left grinning with the tech inside of it. I’m a massive tech head, but the way this works really did impress me. Having said that, there are two factors that need to be considered. The first is how comfortable the Sonar Pen is. It feels great in the hand. I’ve got pretty massive hands, and at no point did I feel that the pen was unconformable to use. It feels study, but not cumbersome. It just felt right.

The second fact to consider is how well the software, in this case Colors Live works with the Sonar Pen.

Features

As you would expect from a design program, there are a lot of different brush types, as well as a plethora of colours to choose from as well. What was a real surprise though is that complexity that can be used on a canvas. Up to 10 layers can be used per design, which can add a real level of depth to the canvas.

In addition to this, there are hotkeys to undo and redo the last brush stroke as well, should you make a mistake.

The software does feel really intuitive and responsive. There are some instances where there will be a random, small blip with the Sonar Pen, but a quick undo action will resolve that. As other outlets have pointed out, there isn’t the option to fill the entire canvas in one go. It’s a bit of an odd omission, and ideally this can be altered with a patch in the future.

It should be noted that this isn’t a massively feature filled piece of software in the way that Photoshop or Illustrator is. Then again, Colors Live wasn’t designed to be like that. It was designed to be as interactive and user friendly as possible no matter what the level of experience of the user is. It has certainly fulfilled that task.

Aside from the normal paint mode, there is also a daily challenge. This will let you really experience different aspects of the program, and expand on your drawing abilities in Colors Live. Sadly, there’s only one challenge per day. To up the ante, though, there is a time limited applied to the daily quest mode. It’s a nice level of pressure to complete the task in the allotted time frame.

Sharing is caring

What I really like about Colors Live is that you are able to share your designs in a variety of ways. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account tied to your Nintendo Switch, you can post directly to your feeds. This is a really great addition, and makes putting your art work front and centre, a breeze.

In addition to this, there is also the option to share it with other Colors Live users. It’s a great feature and, much like your own designs, you can watch a playback of other people coming up with their artwork. The quality of artwork that has been created with it is impressive, and is actually a great advert for the game itself.

Aside from that, there’s nothing much else to Colors Live. That isn’t a bad thing, though. As mentioned at the start of this review, it’s a relaxing piece of software. Whilst my artistic abilities are severely lacking to the point that it’s laughable, I’ve enjoyed my time using it and dipping in and out of the software. After a stressful day at work, doodling away on Colors Live felt really good, and a great way to unwind. It’s definitely worth it and is something you should be picking up as soon as possible.

To pick up your copy today, head on over to the Colors website at this link.