Nikolis Pencil Puzzle
SCORE: 92
We have relationships with hundreds of
game developers, publishers, and PR firms. We spend countless hours
finding the best games for families. As much time
as we spend searching, the sad reality is there will always be games
that surprise us. There are games that literally come out of
nowhere. We may have not found them initially, but once we do - we are
all over it.
Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle is one of those games. We have given the Nintendo
3DS tons of coverage. We love to cover puzzle games. Yet we missed this
game entirely. I take
complete responsibility for that. But we are on top of it now.
First off I just need to say WOW! Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle is one amazing
and fun game.
Graphically speaking Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle is pretty plain. I have seen
hospitals with more color than this game. Colors are used in appropriate
spots to draw attention to things. I love how that is done with Sudoku.
The 3D effects on the top screen are interesting, but eye candy at the
best. To be blunt, it is only a distraction, so I kept it off so I could
focus on the puzzle on the bottom screen.
I flipped through the various music tracks in Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle.
They are all soothing, and mellow. This is needed when the frustration
of a puzzle reaches a boiling point. It is difficult to be mad at a game
when you hearing such relaxing sounds. I do believe the music in
Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle brought my blood pressure down a few points.
Sudoku has 300 puzzles, Shikaku has 110 puzzles, Hashi has 70 puzzles,
and Akari has 120 puzzles. How is that for replay value? In essence
Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle contains four puzzle games in one cartridge. I
can completely forget the lack of graphical prowess when I am given so
many wonderful puzzles. I feel that Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle is worth the
price of admission.
I would recommend going through the tutorial before playing the four
puzzle games in Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle. It took me a few tries to figure
out Hashi (the bridges game). Once I did, the others made sense. I
really enjoyed Akari. The concept of putting lights down that covered
every single square, but did not face another light (vertically or
horizontally) is a lot of fun. This also required thought.
It feels good to exercise the brain. Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle will require
diverse thought patterns. I appreciate Konami publishing this Hudson
Entertainment title. I learned to think through my actions. I also
learned to find problems when I had done something wrong. Nikoli's
Pencil Puzzle is a really great games for families with a Nintendo 3DS.
Shikaku is the boxes game that I did not touch on much in my review.
There are numbers on the grid. They represent how many blocks can be
used to form a box. This can be a square or a rectangle. Getting all of
the boxes in there properly is part of the challenge. All four of these
games in Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle have a similar feel, but they need to be
approached from different angles.
- Paul
Graphics: 77%
Sound: 100%
Replay/Extras: 100%
Gameplay: 92%
Family Friendly Factor: 90%
System: Nintendo 3DS
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Hudson Entertainment
Rating: 'E' - Everyone
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