Polarium

"Who thought flipping tiles could be this fun?"

Introduction
Polarium for the Nintendo DS is a nice puzzle game which isn't hard to learn, but still fun and difficult to complete. It makes excellent use of the DS' touch screen, and has everything a good puzzle game needs. It's very handy to have with you if you're taking a trip.

Gameplay
As I mentioned, the game isn't hard to master. The idea is to make horizontal rows disappear, much like the original Tetris. The difference however, is that this game works with black and white tiles. You see a square filled with black and white tiles, and it's up to you to make all the rows consist of one colour. You can do this by drawing a line through the square and thus flipping the tiles' colour. When you've drawn your line, simply tap the end of the line with your stylus to flip every tile's colour (from black to white and vice versa). The game only requires the stylus to play.

There are two main modes; Puzzle and Challenge. In puzzle mode you can only draw one line to eliminate every row of the square. This makes for some very difficult puzzles, but is very fun to do. There are plenty of puzzles to complete, and if that's not enough for you, it is possible to exchange puzzles via a password with friends. In challenge mode, rows will drop down just as in Tetris and it's up to you to eliminate as many as possible before the rows reach the top of the screen, which means Game Over for you. The game has a nice tutorial, so you'll be ready for the action in no time at all.

The difficulty of the game is a bit hard to judge, because some are better in puzzles than other players. I thought the puzzles weren't that hard to solve, although I had to think pretty long about some of them. It is possible to solve every puzzle in a few days, which means the game isn't very difficult. I didn't mind the relatively low difficulty, as I thought the game was very fun to play. It's innovative, original and has a few nice touches, such as the Custom Puzzles (in which you can create your own puzzles) and the Versus mode, in which you challenge a friend who also has a DS.
9/10

Graphics/Sound
Being a puzzle game, sounds and graphics aren't very important for this game. That said, the graphics are very crisp and clear. There hardly are any colours, but you won't miss them. It does look a bit boring sometimes, and the puzzles look very much alike after a while, because of the lack of colours. I didn't really mind the boring (but clear) graphics, because that's not why I bought the game. I bought it for the puzzles, and they didn't disappoint me. Just don't buy this game for the graphics.

The same goes for the sounds actually. The theme you hear while playing, while not bad, gets on your nerves a bit after a while, and the sounds aren't very special either. This game wasn't designed to look or sounds fantastic; it's all about the gameplay here. The developers could've done a bit more to impress the player sometimes, but it isn't fair to judge a puzzle game by it's looks and sounds. It's just that the DS can handle much better than this.
6.5/10

Play Time/Replayability
As I said before, the puzzles won't take you very long to finish, even if there are 100 of them. The plus side of having 100 puzzles, is you probably won't be able to memorize them all, so you can always go back and beat them again. It is always possible to get more puzzles (up to 100) online or from friends via the password mode, so you won't get bored with this mode fast. And even if you are, this game features an excellent multiplayer, which only requires one gamepack. This is a very fun mode, and will keep you busy for many hours to come. If that's not enough for you, you can always go and play the Challenge mode. You will be playing this mode for quite a while before you get bored of it. It offers the player a solid Tetris game with a twist, and you can keep on playing this, because it's always different.
9/10

Final Recommendation
I suggest you to consider buying this game, especially because it's a budget title. You'll get a lot of fun for not much money. The game is excellent for trips, but you'll play it at home too, especially if you know more people who own a DS. I think this game is a nice example of the DS' innovative way of playing games. You should at least try it out.

Pros:
-cheap
- lots of puzzles, and a good Challenge mode
- excellent multiplayer
-makes good use of the touch screen

Cons:
- boring graphics and sounds
- once you finished and know the puzzles, it's no use to play them again

Final Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/05