HAL Laboratory and Nintendo release another great puzzle game for the Nintendo DS with the recent release of Picross 3D.
Each puzzle rewards the player with an animation, such as this dog running.
In Picross 3D, players are presented with a cube that is divided up into columns and rows of smaller cubes. Each of these columns or rows has a number on the end which represent the number of smaller cubes that need to be kept. The player then uses the information presented to knock out the unneeded cubes to form a picture. Doing so is very simple: the player uses the stylus pen to break the unneeded cubes or paint the ones that are necessary to keep for the picture. These puzzles start off simple, but become increasingly difficult later on in the game. When the player makes a mistake, he or she is given a strike. Getting a certain amount of strikes, usually five, ends the puzzle immediately and the player must restart the puzzle from the beginning.
The real challenge in the game is trying to get a perfect score in each of the puzzles, which involves the player completing the puzzle within the designated time limit and without making any mistakes. The player is awarded with up to three stars for each puzzle, the amount of which is dependent on how well the player does. These stars are then used to unlock more puzzles for each level of difficulty. Each picture rewarded from the successful completion of a puzzle includes both an animation of the picture and its addition to one of a number of “collections” the player can view from the menu. These collections simply just include a few pictures of the same theme, such as a few dogs or pieces of technology.
The numbers on each row and column help the player figure out which cubes to delete.
Picross 3D is by far one of the best games on the DS this reviewer has ever played. The game is incredibly addicting, to the point where this writer had to tear himself away from his DS to write this article. Should the player get bored of the pre-made puzzles, he or she can create and share custom made puzzles. This combined with the sheer amount of puzzles available to play, the box boasts over 365 included on the cartridge and each week a number of puzzles are released by Nintendo as a free download, make a game that will last for quite a long time. For any owner of a DS this is a perfect game to pick up.
