Reveal the Beauty InsideMost people have little experience with Picross. The 2D elimination game has perhaps been most familiarized by the Game Boy title, Mario’s Picross. But even so, the game was not very popular. Despite that, Picross has a certain charm to it that many have missed out on. Essentially, you “remove” squares as possible components to a picture. After you have eliminated all the necessary squares, you are left with a picture. Picross 3D takes this idea and melds it into 3D. And boy is it good.
The game is easy to learn, but hard to master, even for most adults. A lengthy (but very helpful) tutorial walks you through the basics: Hold up on the D-pad to make a hammer to remove blocks. Hold right on the D-pad to make a paintbrush to mark blocks you need to keep. Chip away at each 3D block while making notes with the paintbrush (to jog your memory and prevent yourself from knocking out the block painted) in order to reveal a picture. At many spots on the larger block, there will be numbers. These indicate the number of correct blocks that are within a row or column. If the number is zero, go ahead and chip away all the blocks in that direction. If it’s 6 and there are, say 7 blocks, you can go ahead and highlight the middle 5 blocks; if it’s 3 and there are 5 blocks, you can highlight the middle block, etc.
There are various types of symbols, as well. A circle means there is a gap in between correct blocks. A square indicates two gaps. And no symbol means that there is no gap at all.
In addition, you are timed. You have a certain number of minutes allowed before you start to lose a star or stars. Make it in the green with zero mistakes, and you’ll get three stars. Make it in the yellow, and you’ll get two stars. Make it in the red and you’ll only get one. If you make a mistake, the number of stars you get will go down by one, as well. However, you will always get at least one star if you clear the puzzle. The only way you will fail is if you run out of time (1 hour) or make five mistakes.
The backgrounds of each puzzle may give a hint as to what the puzzle is. Whenever you clear a puzzle, the object is sent to a gallery of sorts according to its background. If you’ve solved another puzzle with the same background, you may be able to figure out what the puzzle is before you solve it. This is less likely than in traditional Picross due to the blocky 3D, but it is still possible.
Simplicity is the name of the game here (OK OK I know it’s Picross 3D), including the graphics and sound. The graphics will remind of a child’s playhouse, as if the toys were all made of blocks. The sound does the same, with very little variety in the music. However, neither aspect is irritating and makes the game a fun, pleasant experience.
There are also optional puzzles. You can access them by gaining a certain number of stars for a section. First unlocked is silver, then gold.
Should this ever be remade, one thing I’d like changed is the same thing I’d like changed in most puzzle games - the ability to play all puzzles off the bat. Instead, you have to clear all of a certain section’s puzzles (minus optional ones) before accessing the next rank. This is not so much a complaint as a preference. I can deal with it, and most people can, as well, to my belief.
Between the 350+ puzzles and the ability to create your own puzzles and share them with friends locally, there’s a whole lot of replayability. And friends can even try out the game, too! You can send them a limited copy via Download Play so they can try out a few puzzles before they make the decision to buy.
Overall, this is an experience not to be missed. A competent, yet simple puzzle game with over 350 reasons to come back.
Presentation: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Lasting Appeal: 9/10
Overall - 8.4/10
NOTA BENE: The game is super cheap on Amazon. You can probably grab a copy for less than $10.
Graphics
7 Sound
6 Addictive
9 Depth
10 Story
1 Difficulty
6
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