Polarium

"VERY simple, VERY addictive and VERY hard"

INTRO

This came out around the same time as the Nintendo DS and it was made by the relatively unknown Mitchell company. It seemed like a usual puzzle game that would quickly disappear into the shadows because of the big name games, for example, Super Mario 64 DS or Mario Kart DS. But this little game turns out to be quite good, but not capable of holding its own against Mario.

GAMEPLAY

This game is a little like Tetris. Annoyingly simple and extremely addictive little puzzler. The aim of the game is to clear the screen of tiles that constantly fall from the top screen. Simple. There are 2 different colors of tiles. Black and white. You must trace over the tiles with the stylus to flip the tiles. Flipping them will change the color. When you have a horizontal row of tiles of the same color the line disappears. The trick is to use as few strokes as you can to clear the lines and to clear several lines at the same time. If you don't destroy lines quickly enough, they will build up. When the lines go above the red line on the top screen, it's Game Over. In Challenge mode all you do is destroy more and more tiles until you complete it by destroying all the tiles or until you fail. At the end you will be given your final score and a rank, E to A. The problem is that the speed the tiles fall down increases very quickly, meaning you'll most likely panic and lose concentration. In Puzzle mode, you are given 10 sets of tiles and you must destroy all the tiles in 1 stroke. The amount of tiles in a puzzle varies. When you complete the first 10 puzzles you unlock the next 10. Complete those to unlock the next 10 and so on until you have unlocked and completed all 100 puzzles. The first 10 puzzles are for beginner-beginners. They get harder though, until they become ridiculously hard around the 60th puzzle. It takes a lot of thinking, luck or cheating to beat all 100 of them.

GRAPHICS

Graphics are bland and not very nice. Not as good as some other Nintendo DS games. The graphics are a bit like the simple 2-D games for the Game Boy or the Game Boy Color. Everything is black and white (suits the tiles) except for the gold box thing that moves over the tiles when you trace over the tiles.

SOUND

The sounds are horrible. This is where the game does very poorly. The noises will have you reaching for the volume button within a couple of minutes.

DIFFICULTY

So hard it's just plain frustrating.It will take a lot of practising to get over a Grade B on Challenge. As for the Puzzles, they start off extremely easy and become extremely hard.

LIFESPAN

Addiction and difficulty are the reasons this game can last for ages, or a few minutes. Depends what type of person you are. Challenge will take a while to beat, while Puzzles will keep you thinking at night.

PROS

+Addictive
+Simple
+Difficult
+Can last for ages

CONS

-Too difficult
-Can last a few minutes before you become bored with having to think

CONCLUSION

A surprisingly good little puzzler but it's not without it's flaws. A respectable 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/06