DISCLAIMERS:
- the game was played on the New Nintendo 3DS XL using the version of the game intended for United States audiences
In 2009 Nintendo and HAL Laboratory introduced a new form of the decades old concept of Picross. In some ways it is much more basic but in others it is much more complicated than regular Picross. This review will judge Picross 3D on its own merits.
The majority of the effort during the development of Picross 3D obviously went into the gameplay. All of the puzzles are 3D objects made out of squares like in Minecraft. Players break blocks that don’t belong based on the numbers on the sides of blocks and optionally “paint” blocks that do so the player doesn’t accidentally break them. Normally these numbers mean that that is the amount of blocks that should not be broken that are touching together along that axis for that row of blocks, but different shapes that surround these numbers are introduced in the game that change these rules. Despite carrying the Touch! Generations branding, the game is a very deep experience. The DS’s touch screen is utilized well and controlling manipulating the camera feels essentially perfect. Players can look at different points along the X and Z axes to get new perspectives on the puzzle which helps the player complete the puzzle and is what allows the player to break blocks behind other blocks. The lack of an option to do this with the Y axis is frustrating at first but this feature obviously isn’t necessary to beat any of the puzzles.
These mechanics are used through hundreds of puzzles that ramp up in difficulty over time. These puzzles would’ve been enough to justify buying the game, but HAL Laboratory decided to go above and beyond and allow players to make their own 3D Picross puzzles and even share them online. Creating these puzzles is also extremely intuitive and fast. Obviously this doesn’t work at the time of this review but the game isn’t at fault for this and wireless communication can also be used to share these puzzles.
In terms of sound Picross 3D is far from impressive. The music variety could have been much higher and the music that is there can be pretty grating over time. Sound effects are about what one would expect. Overall the reviewer would recommend to just play the game with your own music playing
Technically Picross 3D does everything it needs to. Everything runs smoothly and looks about as appealing as it possibly could. The DS’s hardware features are utilized well and intuitively. The UI design could have been more visually appealing, but it is so minimalistic that it hardly matters. Overall this aspect would only be notable if they somehow messed it up.
There is no story in Picross 3D.
Overall Picross 3D is easily worth it. The “over 350” included puzzles alone justify the price and the user created levels make it essentially infinitely replayable. Unless you are somehow bored by this type of game there is really no reason to not buy this game.
Overall the reviewer would give this game a 9.5 out of 10.
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