Polarium

"Prioritize: Don't Polarize!"

Introduction

Polarium takes you into the puzzling realm of black and white tiles, where your goal is match tile colors and solve puzzles. Since it is merely a puzzle game, Polarium does not have a storyline. Instead, it focuses on pure puzzle action and quick reflexes. Your mind, your reflexes, and your stylus will all be put to the test in this unique game by Nintendo and Mitchell.

Storyline: None

Controls: 6.3

Armed with the innovation of the DS, Nintendo decided to make Polarium a touch screen only game. Because the touch screen is so precise, games that use it well have control that is smooth and accurate. Polarium is not one of those games. Since it uses square tiles that gamers must draw straight lines across, Polarium cannot use curves. If a gamers moves the stylus in a diagonal direction, the game will not be able to perform the desired move and will stop the line at the last tile before the diagonal line started. This is fine for the most part, but occasionally it gets frustrating.

For example, a gamer drawing a horizontal line might want to start drawing a vertical line. To do this, he would need to draw a horizontal line until he reaches the space where he wants the line to go vertical, and then he would be able to continue on with a vertical line. If he happens to touch the corner of another tile as he makes the turn, however (which you occasionally do because of the fast pace of some parts of the game), Polarium will register that part of the line as a curve and will stop. Then, the gamer will have to go back to where the turn was not registered and try again, wasting precious time.

Another problem occurs when a gamer draws lines really fast. Because Polarium has a limited amount of programming in determining line drawing, it cannot always keep up with quickly drawn lines. The result is sometimes a stalled line, or a line that is incorrectly made.

It may appear now that the controls of Polarium are completely horrible and make the game totally worthless. That's not what I was trying to convey with the last few paragraphs. I merely wanted to point out a few circumstances and reasons that cause Polarium to have a fairly low control score. Overall, Polarium has decent controls that allow gamers to solve the puzzles and have fun in more challenging parts of the game. Many of the problems above can be solved by tapping the places gamers want the line to go instead of actually drawing a line (although there are still a few problems with this method). Don't be scared away from Polarium because the controls aren't the greatest, just be aware of them when deciding whether or not Polarium is right for you.

Game Play 5.6

Polarium has good game play, but it is limited. In the game, there are two different modes of game play that a gamer can choose from. That's all. In those two modes of game play gamers will find a fair amount of entertainment and challenge, but not an exceptional amount.

Challenge mode is one of the more interesting modes of game play. In it gamers must match up tile colors to clear rows of tiles. While gamers frantically draw lines and think of the best way to solve the puzzles that appear, they must constantly be aware of the new puzzles that fall from the sky. If too many puzzles stack up, they will lose the game. Challenge mode is fun and entertaining, but it does not provide the best of game play experiences.

The other mode of game play is Puzzle mode, which lets gamers try their skill at puzzles. In that mode gamers must solve a puzzle using a single stroke of the stylus, something that requires a good deal of mental skill and no skill. While Puzzle mode is both fun and challenging, its styles do get repetitive and many of the puzzles are easy to figure out.

Graphics 4.5

I would have liked to grade Polarium higher in the graphics category, but frankly, it does not really have graphics. There are black and white tiles which make up the puzzles, yellow lines which you draw on the puzzles, and cool word fonts. A yellow cube makes up the 3-D portion of Polarium's graphics. Polarium doesn't have the best of graphics, but it's a puzzle game, so who cares?

Sound 5.8

The sound of Polarium is clear, but with the DS's great speakers, what isn't? Because it is a puzzle game, Polarium does not rely much on sound – it only uses it to enhance the game play. A few minor sounds effects add to the enjoyment, such as a the sound of the yellow cube moving across the puzzle to make lines, but nothing spectacular or outstanding. The music is also a good addition – most of the time. Depending on what mood you are in, the music may sound intriguing, strange, cool, creepy, motivating, or just plain annoying to you. There are only a few songs that follow the same basic style, which tends to get repetitive if you play the game for a while. The sound of Polarium is not bad, but it is not good enough to be considered anything but mediocre.

Replay Value 5.5

Polarium is lacking in the replay value. There is the high score aspect of Challenge mode, which allows gamers to play Challenge over and over, and there is the puzzle editor that allows gamers to make their own puzzles. Both of those options makes for additional replay value, though even they will get dull after a short period of time.

Multiplayer 4.2

Polarium, overall, is a fairly good game. It's multiplayer, however, is a mix of something horrible, boring, and short. The goal of the multiplayer is to clear all of your lines before your opponent clears his. Whenever you clear lines, they are changed and sent over to your opponent. Since no new lines are added to the board, the game is usually very short (say, 4 seconds), and even when the lines do start flying frequently enough to keep the game going for a somewhat long period of time, there is not enough substance to keep it interesting. The powerups were a great addition to the multiplayer, but the games don't last long enough to even allow you to obtain them, let alone use them skillfully.

Closing

Please do not think that Polarium is a bad game. It is not. It has great puzzles, unique games modes, and an interesting game engine. However, even with its many good points there is not enough to it to make it worth the money, especially when that money could be put towards another, more deserving DS game. If you are a big puzzle fan Polarium will satisfy your cravings, but if you are not you should look elsewhere to spend your money.

Overall Score: 5.5 of 10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/05