Picross e

Transcription

Just when I�d figured I�d played every Picross game under the sun - well, save for those wierd Japan-only flash-cart downloadable Super Famicom ones, but good luck finding those - Nintendo push some more down the pike, ready to slurp up more of my hard-earned money. For some reason, logic puzzles seem to lead me to illogical behavior, at least where it comes to forking over cash. I�ve played plenty. I can probably find more online for free. But these are on my 3DS, and they�re presented stylishly, and the interface is elegant... and I don�t have to worry about doing them in 3D this time. Awright, here�s my dosh, give me MORE PICROSS. Give me Picross with imaginary numbers. Those of you unfamiliar with these logic puzzles... well, yinz need to get it together, because they�re awesome. You�ve got a grid, you�ve got numbers along two sides, and through a vigorous application of cross-referencing and process of elimination, you get a picture of something. A very blocky picture, but a picture nonetheless. And if you can finish the puzzle in under an hour (yes, seriously, an hour), you get color! It�s like the Wizard of Oz up in here. But if you try to fill in a box out of place - if your logic fails you thus - you�ll incur a couple minutes� penalty, doubling each time until you�re getting hit for eight minutes a whack. Probably not the strictest limitation when you�re doing 5x5 grids, but in later levels the playfield expands to 10x10, and even 15x15. A newfound boon, though, is in the coloration of the data on each row or column: a blue font means that there�s some kind of logical deduction to be had there, and that at least one box can either be filled in or marked as unfilled based on the data available. That said, certain puzzles want to make sure you�re playing them the hard way, and disable this setting for extra difficulty, as well as the optional free-line roulette you might remember from Mario�s Picross way back on the Game Boy. Of course, if such time constraints cramp your style, you might fancy a turn in the Free mode, which imposes no penalties for incorrect logic... but, at the same time, it doesn�t tell you that it�s incorrect, either. That revelation is left to you to realize, far too late, after you�ve already calculated contingencies on contingencies on contingencies, all alongside an unoffensive back-beat that has a bit more drum action than I�d expect from a hardcore logic-fest like this. Some serious snare work, there. Picross e offers, well, nothing past a hundred and some puzzles. But it�s not going for some new demographic, or a new gimmick, or new branding. It�s there to satisfy the cravings of everyone who�s grown up playing Picross in various forms, people who need a new fix after having finished Mario�s Picross and Picross DS and Picross 3D. So if you need to lose yourself for a number of hours - say, on a transcontinental flight, or because you�ve been roped into seeing a movie you couldn�t care less about, or you�re hiding in the basement because dear aunt Edna�s in town and she wants to know why you never wear that god-awful sweater she knitted you - Picross e is there for you. For the times in your life when you need puzzles and logic and an escape. Welk, mostly logic.