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Fantastic game, frustrating rough spots

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 40 / 40
Date: August 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The good news: Picross DS is a worthy follow-up to one of the best brain-teaser puzzle games I've played, Mario's Picross. The bad news: despite a host of great new features, they've actually left out a great feature of that 14-year old title and even damaged the design (though only slightly).

Picross DS keeps the same Sudoku-meets-Minesweeper gameplay of the classic game, derived from the popular paper puzzles called nonograms. You are given the number and order of colored cells in each row and column of a grid. By logical deduction and good guesswork, you must figure out which cells should be colored in and which shouldn't be.

Easy and Normal puzzles are time-limited and serve as an introduction to the game; Free Mode puzzles have no timer or warning that you've misplaced a tile. Free Mode is the bulk of the game, and a more satisfying way to play. There are a few minigames as well (a pair of "whack a square" games and a "reverse drawing" game, and possibly others), but these are rather dull and not the point. A change for the challenging: the largest puzzles here are larger than any I've played before.

In gameplay, you can either use the stylus (good for smaller puzzles, frustrating for large ones) or the d-pad and buttons (better for large puzzles, slower in competitive play).

Which brings me to one major addition: online and local wireless competitive play. You and another go head to head to finish two puzzles. I haven't put much time into this mode yet, but it doesn't intuitively seem a big draw - Picross has always been about contemplative mental exercise to me.

The next addition is more exciting: a "Daily Picross" mode, meant to test your speed at small puzzles randomly chosen. Five modes are available, only one of which is unlocked at the start. This mode has a great deal of potential and could bring some longevity to the game once it is finished.

The next major addition is one I've wanted for a long time. A puzzle editor allows you to create your own puzzles, either cell-by-cell or by automatically generating a puzzle from a free-hand sketch. I don't like the automatically-generated puzzles I've done so far, but I may get used to it.

You can share the puzzles you create via local wireless or over the internet, and download puzzles made by others. Nintendo will be releasing multiple puzzle packs that provide puzzles from previous Picross games as well.

This would all be perfect except for two changes made to the basic presentation:
- Mario's Picross had three save slots, to allow three people to use the same cartridge. This game has a single save slot - you can't really share this with a friend or a family member. Expect to buy one per person - at least it's cheap.
- More gravely, the picture you uncover by solving the puzzle is now displayed, both as a small icon on the puzzle select screen and at full size on the top screen. This hurts replayability - there's little point in replaying a puzzle if you know what it looks like. I have not completed Free Mode yet, but a full random Time Attack mode, as the earlier game had, would go a long way towards making up for this last problem.

While the former problem can be ascribed to Nintendo's desire to sell more copies of the software, the latter is simply strange. Nevertheless, the additions make this a superior title to its excellent predecessor and a downright bargain for its budget price. Highly recommended for those who like thoughtful, contemplative puzzle-solving.

Absolutely addictive puzzler with a few flaws..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just got this game in for a couple of days, having known very little about it. In essence, it's sudoku meets minesweeper, as another review so aptly summed it up. Solve the puzzle to reveal a picture and see it spring to life in color and motion. Simple concept and brilliant in execution. The controls are absolutely perfect on the DS. For more complex puzzles, you simple scroll around by dragging the stylus across the screen. Hold down the directional pad in different directions to mark the grid and solve the puzzle.

I'm a bit concerned about the replayability of the game, as the puzzle-set seems to be somewhat limited. I do like the daily brain-age style mini-games, in which you can test and track your skills every day. However, once you solve a puzzle, the picture is shown on the selection screen, which spoils it for players who haven't solved it before. So sharing a cartridge with family members is not exactly a great experience. But otherwise, this cart is feature packed and a great bargain. Highly recommended

Addictive and fun puzzler

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: August 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Picross DS is an addictive and fun puzzler that puts a nice spin on the puzzle genre on the DS, and provides a wonderful amount of challenging fun as well. The ridiculous amount of puzzles are solved by attempting to form a picture as grid boxes are punched out by determining various numbers. Yes, the formula may sound a bit familiar for some, but make no mistake that Picross DS is still a blast to play regardless. The game is made even better by the fact that online Wi-Fi play is included and is where the real meat of the game is to be found. The only real downsides of Picross DS are that as the puzzle grid increases, the more often the game zooms in and out, which when using the touch screen of the DS, becomes quite annoying. However, considering the budget price of Picross DS and how much fun you get for your money, you really can't go wrong here. All in all, if you're looking for another more than solid puzzler for your DS and are on a budget, look no further.

Picross DS rocks the house

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Picross DS is a straight-up Picross game. Thank you, Nintendo.

The upsides here are:

* Hand-held Picross goodness
* Many single player levels
* Awesome head-to-head Picross via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
* Puzzle editor
* Share your own puzzles via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
* (Supposed) downloadable Picross levels from the previous Nintendo Picross games that Nintendo has offered
* Low low price of $19.99.

The downsides here are:

* The downloadable games are all "coming soon"
* I am not at all happy with the zoom scheme they came up with for the larger puzzles. It's really hard to keep track of the big picture while you work, at least for me.

So as you can see, the score is 7 to 2 in favor of the upsides. I'm a happy (addicted) camper. It made me stop playing Planet Puzzle League at least. At roughly the same time this game came out, I stumbled across another Picross game.

Drats!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The bad news: I really loved this game until I got to the 15x15 puzzles. It is too confusing zooming in and out, I need to see the whole board. That's a big part of the game that I won't even use. The great news? The wi-fi play is REALLY fun and challenging.

Puzzlers should definitely buy this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: August 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am approaching this game as someone who is familiar with the pencil-and-paper (P&P) puzzles of the same type, such as those found in Games Magazine. This review will compare the P&P version to this video game.

I was looking for a DS video game that could keep me occupied on a transatlantic business trip, and had serious doubts that this game would work. The P&P version of this puzzle is somewhat fun but also quite tedious. If you're on the fence like me, I can wholeheartedly say: you should definitely buy this game.

This video game version provides several features which make this type of puzzle much more approachable to the new player (and, frankly, it makes it a lot more fun, too, by removing a lot of the tedium). Many of the puzzles are setup to automatically tell you if you've made a mistake. No more grueling over a puzzle grid for an hour only to find you've made a horribly intractable mistake and have to start from scratch! Instead, you're penalized via a time penalty when you make a mistake. Also, the game offers you a random hint on each puzzle before you start. So, new puzzlers will find these puzzles on the DS very approachable.

There are also plenty of features that simply blow away what you can do with P&P. These include:
* great visual themes
* nice music
* cute animations as reward for solving the puzzle
* automatically keeping track of which bars have been fully filled in
* nice variety of mini-games to break up the monotony
* multiplayer, both local and internet
* make your own puzzles & share them wirelessly
* convenient way to try out an assumption then accept/discard it
* stylus allows for brilliantly fast gameplay -- much faster than P&P

My primary complaint is that the game doesn't serve the needs of the hardcore player very well. Specifically, these points bothered me:
* no way to disable automatic checking for errors on easier levels
* the assumption-checking system doesn't allow for layered assumptions
* it also doesn't show you which spot was your initial key assumption
* arbitrary notation (e.g. custom notes & scribbles) is not possible
* puzzle grids are initially limited to 15x15 in size

I debated rating it 4 stars because of the hardcore limitations, but decided that the game really isn't trying to fill a hardcore niche. It does what it tries to do perfectly, which is to make "picross" puzzles incredibly fun to play. Rather than spending an hour grueling over a single tough paper puzzle, making complex notations possibly even using layered assumptions, you can whip through a "tough" puzzle on the DS in about 10 minutes. All the tedium is gone. You can fill in the grid on the DS as fast as you can think, which is an order of magnitude faster than you can fill in a paper grid. So, while there was a certain satisfaction in conquering the hardest of hardcore "picross" puzzles on paper, it was precisely those frictions which turned me off from them in the P&P world.

Bottom line: the P&P variety of this puzzle was never particularly compelling to me, but the DS version is a joy to play.

wish there were more easy puzzles

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game and especially since I had never played it before. I thought that switching back and forth in the 15 X 15 SQUARE GAME is hard and confusing for me. I wish there were more easy puzzles and that you could replay them without knowing what they are (because you have already done them).

Good, but should have been better.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've been doing this type of puzzle for at least 14 years so when I heard they were going to have this for the DS, I ordered it. I enjoyed starting it out but was disappointed right away because this is basically a one player game. Unless you want to redo somebody else's puzzles, or have them poking into yours, you need more than one cartridge.

I did all of the beginning puzzles with no difficulty, but some of the later ones don't have what I think of as a 'clean' solution. I prefer a puzzle that can be solved just by the numbers provided. Some of these puzzles require using the hint or using an educated guess to figure out the answer. Free Mode is only this type of puzzle, and they give you an overlay that you can figure on and then you can apply it to your puzzle or not. However, the puzzles in the normal mode, to me, shouldn't require this.

The thing I find most lacking, though, are two color puzzles. I used to enjoy those a lot, and they are missing from the game. The idea of the game had more potential than was realized here.

Overall I enjoy this game. I like having a different sort of puzzle than the brain training games or Sudoku, so it is a nice change. I just thought it could have been better.

Fun, but too few puzzles!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: September 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love picross puzzles; I've been addicted to them for almost 10 years. This game is fun, but unfortunately, I finished this game in one weekend.

For an avid picross solver, this game just didn't furnish enough of a challenge. The grids were too hard to navigate with the stylus so I resorted to using the buttons instead. The numbers were hard to see and the size of the grids was unsatisfying.

The game is great for beginners or anyone who wants an introduction to picross puzzles, but unfortunately, it's just not worth the money for anyone who is beyond a beginner level.

One of the best puzzlers ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you like Sudoku or crossword puzzles, there's a good chance you'll love Picross DS. It's got so much content, including some great multiplayer modes. 3 music tracks are included - they're not very good, but at least you have the choice to use them, unlike Brain Age. Zooming in and out on the larger puzzles can be a hassle, but it's worth it for these brain benders. An absolute steal at twenty bucks.

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