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»Picross DS
"Just buy this game, 'kay?"
Unless you grew up having played Mario’s Picross for the Game Boy, odds
are that you don’t know much about this puzzle, but at the same time,
odds are that you played it at one point in your life. For people in my
generation – remember those books from when you guys were kids, and it
had puzzles where you penciled in little squares to form an image out
of them? Yeah, so do I. Or for younger people, you ever read Tips &
Tricks? Ever do those pencil puzzles at the back of them? There you go.
Nostalgia aside, Picross DS is the latest greatest DS game out there.
Not only is it the best puzzle game released for handhelds, but it is
also one of the most addictive games I have ever played.
The mechanics are simple. The player is shown a grid –
let’s use a 5x5 grid, and let’s say that it is a grid with only one
square to be filled in (one on the left, one on the right, and one in
the middle). Each column has one or more numbers above it, and each row
has one or more numbers to the left of it as well. They indicate how
many squares are in that column or row. In this example, the numbers on
the columns would go as follows (from left to right of the grid): 5, 0,
5, 0, 5. This means that in the left, middle, and right columns, every
square is used, but in all other columns, there are none, so they are
automatically X’ed. On the rows, you will see (from top to bottom):
1/0/1/0/1, 1/0/1/0/1, 1/0/1/0/1, 1/0/1/0/1, and 1/0/1/0/1. This means
that in every row, there are three squares used. However, instead of
showing a three to indicate this, it shows three ones to indicate that
each square is separate, and that two squares cannot touch. Once the
puzzle is finished, the image will show up on the top screen, and
slowly transform into a colored, animated version of the simplified
version the player made. While this all seems simple now, the puzzles
will grow larger and more difficult, with a maximum size of 25x20. If
you understand, that’s wonderful. If not, then might I suggest you try
it for yourself?
There are six menu options at the beginning – Picross,
Daily Picross, My Picross, DS Wireless Communications, Nintendo W-Fi
Connection, and Settings. Picross allows the player to view a How to
Play tutorial, as well as three difficulty modes (Easy, Normal,
and Free). Easy and Normal are basically the same with the exception of
difficulty, theme, and number of puzzles. There is no time limit, but
if the player goes over 00:60:00 minutes, ”Time Over” will appear over
it. In this case, the image will not become colorized and animated,
instead simply being how it looks on the puzzle. None of the puzzles
are so terribly complex that the player cannot solve them in that much
time, but if any mistake is made, an ever-increasing amount of time
will be added to the clock (e.g. 2:00, then 4:00, then 6:00, and
finally 8:00). A less experienced player may experience some difficulty
with a puzzle, and while making a mistake can be costly and give them a
Time Over, the miss will X it out, possibly opening up more
opportunities to complete the puzzle.
Free Mode, however, is very different. While it uses the
exact same mechanics and objectives, it does not punish the player for
making a mistake. Some may consider this a positive, until they realize
that this makes it so much harder – if the player makes a mistake and
fails to notice until the very end, he or she must start all over from
the beginning. Thankfully, the player is given the option of testing
out “theories” in Try It Out mode, where the player can fill in squares
and attempt to complete the puzzle. If it turns out to be right, the
player may apply it to the real puzzle. However, it they’re wrong, they
can simply discard it.
Daily Picross is basically modeled after Nintendo’s brain
training games. Initially, the player has access to only Nonstop Time
Attack, which is easily summed up as “a series of Picross puzzles in a
time attack mode”. After the player plays the puzzle for a certain
number of days, he or she will unlock another – for instance, playing
Nonstop Time Attack for three days non-stop will unlock No X Marks,
which is the same as Nonstop Time Attack except that the player cannot
X out squares to make it easier. If the game let the player do more
than just the one series of puzzles in one day, it’d be a lot more
entertaining, but I’m proud to say that I’ve stayed glued to this mode
from day one.
Besides the main game itself, My Picross is the most
interesting aspect – the player can pretty much make his or her own
puzzle, complete with a colorized version of it that he or she may
draw. It can be difficult to make certain puzzles, as even if the
player knows how to make, for instance, a puzzle of Link from The
Legend of Zelda, the game may point out to him or her that it cannot be
completed without guesswork. But this is not too common, so it doesn’t
drag it down much. Now, the best part is that you can upload and
download puzzles to and from the Wi-Fi Connection, creating an infinite
number of puzzles at the player’s disposal. The only flaw in the
creation process is that the colorized version of the puzzle cannot be
animated like the Nintendo-created puzzles are – it’d be hard, but I
know that some would be able to do it. Multiplayer isn’t just puzzle
sharing, however – a player may also send any pre-loaded puzzle to
another Nintendo DS’ memory, allowing the owner to play that puzzle.
One can also play a multiplayer match against another player, which is
pretty much both players doing the same two puzzles separately, racing
to see who finishes first. I’m not sure if it is online-only or not as
I haven’t had the opportunity to try it offline, but with the free
online, it doesn’t matter for most.
It’s not so much its technical prowess that grabs my
interest in the game, but it really excels in style. The first puzzle
puts the player into a drab, simple puzzle layout, but the puzzle
layouts get far more inventive as the player progresses. The by-far
most inventive one that I’ve found is the sand design, which, when the
player fills in a square, will cause sand to fall out of that square as
a result. And another thing that’s really, really cool is how each
puzzle becomes colorful and animated. It all looks like a simple
black-and-white rendition of what it really is, but let’s take my
example. Let’s say that the three lines are actually iron bars – when
it makes the transformation, the bars would look grey, and a prisoner’s
ugly mug would pop up behind them. Not only does it make it feel
unique, you just can’t help but smile at the animation. The one and
only flaw is that some boards’ colors are too similar between the X’ed
boxes, the filled-in boxes, and the empty boxes. Fortunately, you can
switch to the “basic” board.
The audio did an excellent job in its uniqueness and the
whole smile thing as well. Using the sand level as an example, when the
player fills in a square, the sound of sand rushing from it is heard.
All of the levels have a pretty cool sound effect that they use –
unfortunately, the “miss” side-effect never changes, so you kind of
have to “deal” with it. The music is well-composed as well, with both Normal
mode and Free mode having their own unique sets of three songs, for a
total of six songs in all. I just have to ask two questions – one, why
couldn’t they have let us use all six songs no matter what mode; and
two, why only six? I couldn’t give this score any higher than what I
gave it – not only because of the repetition of having only three songs
to alternate between, but also because being a puzzle game does not
necessarily mean that it will be inferior to an adventure game’s,
unlike how a puzzle game’s visuals would.
The replay value is excellent. Not only are there more
than 300 puzzles to be completed, but there is a Daily Picross (which
actually succeeds in not becoming boring and redundant),
create-a-puzzle (lets you create puzzles AND make a drawing for the
puzzle to morph into once it’s finished), multiplayer (Wi-Fi and
local), and downloading puzzle packs (which contain puzzles from
classic Nintendo Picross games). The puzzles take very long to
complete, Daily Picross is worth playing for at LEAST 20 days to have
all five Daily Picross games available, multiplayer is decent and good
fun for a little while, and the puzzle packs, so far, we have the two
puzzle packs from Mario’s Picross, and there are more on the way.
Besides, Nintendo DID include the option to download user-created
puzzles from people on your friend list. So even without the classic
puzzle packs, this game is still very, very replayable.
Overall, this is one of the games that everyone who owns a
DS should own, as well as one of the game that should encourage people
to buy the DS for. Not only does it have excellent gameplay, replay
value, style, as well as pretty much perfect controls (if you use the
D-Pad + touch screen method, at least). Sudoku is fun, but it pales in
comparison, which just tears me up inside that no one cares about
Picross compared to how much of a fanbase there is for Sudoku. Picross
not only appeals to softcore Sudoku players, but with its Free Mode,
appeals to the hardcore puzzle fans as well, which is why I love this
game so much.
Article by: Alttp
Posted on: Sep. 21st, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Really fun and addictive – Normal Mode for less advanced Picross players, Free Mode for advanced players. More than 300 puzzles, and great touch AND face controls. |
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Graphics |
| While puzzle games don’t overstate the visuals much, Picross DS really makes the visuals integral to the game – I can’t imagine it being nearly as good without the themes for each set of puzzles. |
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Sound |
| Needs more songs, but otherwise, they’re all good, as are the sound effects. |
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Replay Value |
| Downloadable puzzles from ten classic Picross games, create-a-puzzle, online play, 300+ puzzles available initially, and the desire to beat your high score leaves a lot of replay value. |
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