Polarium

"Polar Opposites"

Polarium is the latest and greatest puzzle game by Nintendo for their DS handheld system.

Like many puzzle games, your goal in Polarium is to eliminate lines of blocks and achieve a high score. To eliminate lines, all blocks in one horizontal row must be the same color (either black or white). You can flip blocks to the opposite color by touching them with the stylus. At first you may have trouble with controlling the stylus and which blocks you're flipping, but you'll pick it up quickly. The game starts off with a tutorial to help you practice and teach the basics of Polarium.

Once you get really good, you'll be able to eliminate several rows at once, without ever lifting your stylus from the screen. This technique will allow you to quickly clear the screen, earning you big point totals. My high score so far is 208635 with 233 lines cleared.

Similar to Lumines, Polarium features a puzzle mode with various shapes. Instead of creating them, you'll need to eliminate them. Sounds easy enough right? The catch is you have to do it with one single stroke of the stylus. This mode features 100 different puzzles, each with multiple solutions. The puzzles increase in difficulty as you progress. Hints are offered if you get stuck on a certain puzzle. You can also create your own puzzles that can be saved and shared with friends.

There is a multiplayer mode which allows two opponents to play through the challenge mode wirelessly against each other. Once one player has eliminated a line, it is dumped onto the opponent's side. When all of the lines stack up in one player's bin, the match is over. Only one copy of the game is need because the owner transfers the needed files to the cartridge-free system.

The graphics and sound are both very simple. Most of the graphics are in black and white, which is the theme of the game. The sounds are simply clicking of the blocks with some background music thrown in.

Polarium is certainly not for everyone. If you're expecting an experience similar to Lumines, you'll want to wait for Meteos, because you're going to be disappointed by Polarium. At times it can feel more like a brainteaser game rather than a true puzzle game. However, this game was perfect for me and I really enjoyed playing it. I would recommend that all DS owners give this one a try. It's one of my favorite games for the system.

9.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05