DS Review: Brain Buster Puzzle Pack

Logic puzzle videogames have become somewhat of a popular trend nowadays. Nintendo’s Brain Age franchise has sparked off a rush to the market by imitators that all promise to train your brain “in minutes a day” with dubious results. There is a wide variety of puzzle titles to choose from on the Nintendo DS, including other Sudoku and logic puzzle games. The recently released Brain Buster Puzzle Pack, however, clearly stands out from the rest, delivering five different puzzle series that are sure to keep even the most discerning puzzle freak busy. Keep on reading to find out what makes this game so enjoyable, keeping in mind that the game’s core audience is logic puzzle lovers, thus offering little appeal to those not interested in taxing their brains while playing a video game.

Brain Buster Puzzle Pack offers five different puzzle styles:

SUDOKU: You play on a 9×9 grid divided into nine squares of 9 mini squares each. Every row and column must have the numbers 1 through 9 once without repeating. The game starts with a few numbers filled in and you must place the rest to complete the puzzle. It might take a little while to get used to the mechanics of Sudoku, but the game is addictive and fun nonetheless.

KAKURO: Kakuro is the game for math lovers. You must add a combination of numbers to get the result asked, both for rows and columns. The trick is that you can’t repeat numbers on rows or columns, so you must really think of which number goes where. Kakuro is the most complex game of the bunch, but not frustratingly hard.

LIGHT UP: Light Up is the easiest and most simple puzzle in the game, but one of the most addictive. You must place light bulbs on a panel next to some squares that tell you how many light bulbs must be adjacent to them, but you can’t have two or more light bulbs on the same light path, otherwise they will burn.

NURIKABE: Nurikabe is played on a panel with some numbers scattered on it. You must fill in white spaces with black tiles to cover certain areas so that the numbers on the puzzle are left alone with the specified number of white tiles on it, sort of like an island of white spaces on a black sea. This puzzle takes a little while to understand.

SLITHERINK: Slitherlink is the hardest puzzle of the bunch, offering the least hints and the most possible places to start. You must place lines next to squares. Some squares have numbers inside them, telling you how many lines must touch them. Here’s the catch; the entire line path must be enclosed. This game is sure to give puzzle fans a challenge.

The game features 50 puzzles of each style, with a total of 250 puzzles. As you play them, you obtain points based on how quickly you solve each puzzle, and you can unlock more as you earn more and more points. Each puzzle style features a simple yet informative tutorial which explains the rules of each puzzle. Training Mode is also available, and features randomly-generated puzzles for those looking for an extra challenge once finished with the main puzzles.

Brain Buster is played entirely with the stylus. Each puzzle features different controls, but they are all intuitive and simple. On each game you can place lines / numbers / tiles, remove them by double-tapping, or place marks or hints to help you along the way. You can undo / redo any move you make, and once you obtain them you can use Answer Balls to help you when you’re stuck. Slitherlink is the most problematic puzzle control-wise, since you must be very precise on where you tap to get the lines where you want them to be, but once you get the hang of things you will do fine.

As far as graphics go, Brain Buster doesn’t deliver anything impressive, but no one expects great graphics on puzzle games, so this isn’t a big deal. The audio suits the puzzle style nicely, with smooth and soothing music for each puzzle, although they tend to get a little repetitive after a few puzzles. The game’s menus are easy to navigate through, but we wish we could skip the mandatory introduction every time we start the game.

Brain Buster Puzzle Pack is clearly aimed at logic puzzle enthusiasts, and delivers good replay value and fun, addictive gameplay to them. The game’s controls are simple and intuitive, leaving the challenge of gameplay to the puzzles themselves and not their execution. Although not the perfect puzzle game, the $20 budget prize is well worth it.

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