DS Review: Picross DS

You know, pixels are seriously underestimated. Those tiny dots of light on your TV, monitor or handheld device are there all the time, working hard to show you what you want to see, yet nobody thinks twice about them. Imagine if you could zoom in and take a closer look, and if you could easily maneuver and re-arrange pixels to form pictures and share them with friends. As strange as it sounds, this is the premise of Picross DS, an addictive puzzle title that will make you forget the beauty of 1080i and appreciate pixels a lot more.

Over the years, developer Jupiter Multimedia has worked with Nintendo on Picross titles for old systems, but only one made it stateside, and it was overlooked. This time, Picross DS saves the day with a plethora of game modes, both single and multiplayer, for casual gamers and puzzle fanatics alike. Picross, short for Picture Crossword, is played on a grid, 5×5 at first and eventually growing by increments of five to the staggering 20×20. To the left and on top of the grid are series of numbers that indicate how many spaces should be filled on each row and column. The only requirement is that there must be at least one blank space between each segment of filled squares.

Here’s an example for a single row:

You must fill out four (1+3) squares, plus one for the blank space in between them. Since the row is five squares long, all you have to do is ‘plug in’ the filled squares, like so:

The first square is filled, and since there must be at least one blank space after it, you can place an X to remind you not to fill that square. You have three squares left and three squares to fill in, so you must fill them all. This is a basic explanation; the game’s tutorials do a great job of explaining the basic rules and provide advanced tips and tricks for the more challenging puzzles.

The game’s Easy Mode, consisting of 5×5 puzzles, is a great start point for anyone new to Picross. As you progress through Normal Mode, 10×10 grids are introduced, increasing the game’s difficulty but also the feeling of accomplishment after solving each puzzle. Everything is well handled with the stylus, as you fill in or cross out squares on the touch screen. A button control system is also available, but most players will find stylus controls much quicker and easier to use. As the grid size increases, however, you will need to zoom in and out of the puzzle, and this is where some people find the controls to be a bit troublesome. Fortunately there is a solution. Most players overlook a critical factor; as you move around the grid using the stylus, you can press and hold X or B to fill in or cross out squares, respectively. This touch screen / button combination works wonders, and if you need to see the entire puzzle, just take a peek at the top screen and it’ll be there. Keeping this in mind will solve any control issues you might have; just be careful on which squares you touch.

Aside from the 100+ Normal puzzles, a Free Mode is available, which, unlike the other modes, won’t alert you if you make a mistake, forcing you to focus and fix mistakes after you think you’re finished with the puzzle. There are a lot of puzzles to solve, as well as some quirky mini-games to play for a small distraction, which are unlocked after you finish a certain amount of regular puzzles. There’s also a Daily Picross mode, which offers a variety of play styles for quick daily play that keeps track of how well you do, and is a great way to keep you coming back to the game. Not only that, but you can create your own puzzles by hand or draw a picture and transform it into a puzzle. To top it all off, you can download classic Picross puzzles from older games from Nintendo via packages, four of which are available at the time of writing and more are sure to come. [UPDATE: Two more packages were released on October 1st. The current trend indicates twenty more puzzles available for download every other week]

And all that was just the single player experience; the game’s multiplayer support is just as robust. You can trade custom puzzles with others locally or online via WFC. You can also go head to head against a local friend or an online opponent on a race to solve puzzles, or play some Picross-inspired mini-games with up to five local players, all with a single game card. The ability to share puzzles with local or far away friends increases the game’s replay value to great limits, and the Picross race versus mode is a neat twist on the formula to make things fast-paced and far more hectic.

Picross DS offers great gameplay and tons of features for anyone who can dig a good puzzler, but the game’s presentation isn’t great. The game’s graphics are good for a puzzle game, with different backgrounds and grid designs for the game’s various modes, and you can watch some cool pixelated animations after you beat a puzzle, but a few more touches would’ve helped. And the game’s music is decent at best, with only three different tracks for main gameplay that become repetitive quickly. Not only that, but there is no Random option for the game’s music; you must pause the game and change the music manually, which seems like lazy design work on a game that should feature more music that changes automatically.

Aside from the bland audio, Picross DS is a puzzle gem, offering tons of puzzles on different game modes for single and multiplayer gaming that will keep you glued to your DS for weeks, if not months. The game’s addictive gameplay is well suited for DS controls and is simple enough for anyone and hardcore enough to keep you coming back to it. This title offers the most value that $20 can buy for the Nintendo DS, and is one of the finest Touch Generations titles available for the system. Pixels have never been this awesome.

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