Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of Picross 3D
Picross is one of the very best games on the Nintendo DS, and after three years Nintendo has finally delivered a sequel. This isn't just "more Picross," though, as the number puzzles we know and love have now been brought into the third dimension, requiring us to turn on a completely different area of our brain. The experiment was a success and Picross 3D is another addictive collection of satisfying mind games. Only the visuals, which took a dramatic turn for the worse, keep this sequel from sitting alongside the original Picross DS.
The puzzles in Picross present you with a grid of blocks and you must determine which cubes can be removed in order to reveal a picture. Numbers at the end of each row and column indicate how many blocks are part of the image -- or how many blocks you need to keep. By carefully analyzing the clues you can smash the unnecessary blocks and uncover the hidden dog, robot, bulldozer, etc. Picross 3D works the same way, but now there are several layers of blocks to be chiseled away. It's a more difficult game and one that I don't think has the immediate appeal of the first, but it is nonetheless still very amusing.
New types of number clues have also been added for Picross 3D. In addition to the regular numbers that indicate how many blocks in a row or column are part of the hidden shape, there are now circle and square blocks to think about. Circle numbers mean the blocks you want to keep are in two groups instead of one continuous line. Square numbers indicate the keepers are in three or more groups, complicating matters significantly. A helpful tutorial walks you through all of these features step-by-step, though, and gives you time to practice before tackling the game for real.
After the tutorial is finished you'll work your way through Picross 3D unlocking tiers of puzzles and earning stars for good performances (making no mistakes, completing a puzzle in under the par time, etc...). Stars will unlock bonus levels in each tier. Like the first Picross, you can still create your own puzzles and share them via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
So all of this is great and you'll be kept busy with Picross 3D for some time. My only disappointment with the game is its shift in visual style. The first Picross had very cool pixel art that paid homage to Nintendo's past. The color scheme was also cleaner and more unified. Picross 3D can't seem to decide on a style and the backgrounds are a mess of ugly, generic clip art with pastel tones. It sort of looks like Easter threw up on my DS.
The puzzles in Picross present you with a grid of blocks and you must determine which cubes can be removed in order to reveal a picture. Numbers at the end of each row and column indicate how many blocks are part of the image -- or how many blocks you need to keep. By carefully analyzing the clues you can smash the unnecessary blocks and uncover the hidden dog, robot, bulldozer, etc. Picross 3D works the same way, but now there are several layers of blocks to be chiseled away. It's a more difficult game and one that I don't think has the immediate appeal of the first, but it is nonetheless still very amusing.
New types of number clues have also been added for Picross 3D. In addition to the regular numbers that indicate how many blocks in a row or column are part of the hidden shape, there are now circle and square blocks to think about. Circle numbers mean the blocks you want to keep are in two groups instead of one continuous line. Square numbers indicate the keepers are in three or more groups, complicating matters significantly. A helpful tutorial walks you through all of these features step-by-step, though, and gives you time to practice before tackling the game for real.
After the tutorial is finished you'll work your way through Picross 3D unlocking tiers of puzzles and earning stars for good performances (making no mistakes, completing a puzzle in under the par time, etc...). Stars will unlock bonus levels in each tier. Like the first Picross, you can still create your own puzzles and share them via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
So all of this is great and you'll be kept busy with Picross 3D for some time. My only disappointment with the game is its shift in visual style. The first Picross had very cool pixel art that paid homage to Nintendo's past. The color scheme was also cleaner and more unified. Picross 3D can't seem to decide on a style and the backgrounds are a mess of ugly, generic clip art with pastel tones. It sort of looks like Easter threw up on my DS.
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