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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.

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.

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.

Game review

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Fun and keeps your attention. I don't like the zoom effect and not being able to see the whole puzzle in that mode.

Major irritation with the larger puzzle size vs screen size

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The easy puzzles (small size) are too easy...but then you move up to the more challenging puzzles. Yes, challenging they sure are, BUT with the zoom size and the numbers along the sides, return to normal size with the tiny numbers to get the "big picture" in order to figure the puzzle out takes more time AND irritation than I am willing to give for a puzzle game. Now don't take me wrong, I love a good challenge and have succeeded at the most challenging levels of Sudoku and other puzzle games, but Picross is not one for the small Nintendo DS Lite machine...a more apt game for the PC IMHO. I had high hopes for the use of logic while determining the solutions and also think that the images that come up after you succeed in completing a puzzle are not visually pleasing as one could expect for the DS games. So I give it 5 stars for the challenge, 1 star for the smallness and poor quality of the imagery, thus averaging a 3 star rating for this game. I feel that only die-hard Picross fans will get any enjoyment of this game.

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.

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).

Great puzzler for the price

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For $20, it is hard to go wrong for a new DS game. This is another puzzle game in an already crowded field of games for Nintendo's handheld system. What sets this apart this from the others is a catchy mathematical appeal that doesn't FEEL like you are doing logic puzzles. The innovative design, nice touch screen, and diverse modes make this an excellent buy.

The idea is that the picture is missing and you have to fill in the grid to make it. This "picture" is pixelated like in an 8-bit video game. The numbers on the side give you hints to where the pixels go. You can turn pixels on by clicking the square or you can put an X in the square if they don't. From my description, it is hard to get the idea of what to do exactly, but it makes sense in execution. Since this is not a Tetris or Big Age rip-off, the only way you would have seen this before would be if you had this on the Game Boy Advance.

The touch screen makes this game worlds easier to manipulate and on the GBA. You can customize the controls to your liking, but it is made for the touch screen. I am glad Nintendo is allowing these remakes with the new technology.

The game has many different modes to keep you busy too. There are hundreds of puzzles for you to try and some mini-games that give you a break from the normal gameplay. When you beat so many levels, they open up more to play. There are also "daily" modes that keep you coming back to improve your score and reward you by unlocking even more modes and games. If you think the game stays easy, you are dead wrong.

Which brings me to some of my complaints. First off, it get difficulty very quick. You might breeze through the EASY puzzles, but soon you will find yourself scratching your head in Level 3 of normal mode. This was frustrating to my wife who liked the quick puzzles. Secondly, there was no way to start a new profile. If I cleared the puzzle, my wife could see the solution! Multiple profiles would have been better so we could both go at our own pace. Lastly, once you solve the puzzle, you can see the answer, so replaying the puzzle is practically worthless. There are hundreds of puzzles, but they could have really given you a preference to hide the final drawings.

In conclusion, it is an excellent purchase. I would recommend it for the price and for its mathematical simplicity. If you have a DS rumble pack (sold with Metroid Pinball DS) it is even better!

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