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Reviews (3)
19 July 2009
Rubiks interest: Must! Puzzle lover: Maybe.
1 of 1 found this helpful I’ve always had an interest in learning how it is that peope solve a rubik’s cube. Thanks this game and YouTube, I can at least solve a 2x2 and 3x3 cube.. well.. as long as I have my algorithm sheet. This N.DS title provides a little more than just a rubik’s cube to play with; it also has a few other toys and puzzles to work out for the Cubies’ contentment. By the way, a single Cubie is 1 of 26 on a 3x3 cube.. or 1 of 8 on a 2x2 cube.
Fit: “The goal in this game is to fit a group of safely through a series of walls before time runs out.” [4/5]
Create: “Show Cubies how things look in the real world.” [minor 2/5]
Color: “Help the Cubies reach each of the exit points in a level by coloring them and sending them off in the right direction.” [5/5]
Roll: Like the Color section of puzzles, this is a “help the Cubies reach each of the exit points”, but no colors are involved in this area, so the Cubies don’t get stuck together as is possible in Color. [5/5]
Switch: “Make combinations of five or more Cubies to set them free.” This is a combination of logic and speed. [4/5]
Compose: “Teach Cubies what music sounds like.” [minor 2/5]
Calculate: “Each turn, two math problems will be presented. The first represents the horizontal coordinate and the second the vertical.” With each set of problems, a little more of a picture is drawn. [3/5]
Rubik’s Cube: This is the “grand-daddy” of the game, the cube is the Cubies’ favorite game. In this section of the game: (1) You can go to learn how to solve a 3x3 cube. The game has a set of steps for you to follow, but I had problems following through them and they didn’t feel quite complete enough for me. (2) You can solve three sizes of cubes: 2x2, 3x3, 4x4. (3) You can also start with a solved cube and make rotations to match the “top face” to a given design. -- Note on 2 and 3: The interface for dealing with the cube and viewing the cube is ok, but takes some time to get used to. [3/5]
Multiplayer: Single-card with 3 games: (1) Switch, (2) Rubik’s Cube, and (3) Fit. [4/5]
Missing option in all parts of the game: Not using the stylus/touchscreen. All control in this game is done by touchscreen, so you can not use the direction pad or buttons in any way except “Start” for getting out of some of the areas.
In total, I found “Rubik’s World” to be an interesting set of different puzzle games. It spurred me enough to actually figure out how those “brilliant” people solve the hellish toy that frustrated me to no end as a kid. It was easily worth the $12 that I spent for it, but I probably wouldn’t spend more than $18. [4/5]
18 July 2009
Brainium: Nice game(s), strange interface
Amongst the games included in this N.DS title, Go was the one that caught my attention, but the others are a welcome addition to it.
Sudoku: Standard Sudoku (1-9) rules, but the interface isn’t as good as those of the Brain Age games. You don’t have the small number ability to track “possible” numbers for each square. For this, you have to use a little “scratch pad” if you want to use only the DS interface (or break out a pad and pencil). High score table is only a time for the difficulty level, not for each unique puzzle. [2/5]
Mahjongg: Standard left-right open tile matching rules. Common complaint I’m reading is that the interface makes the graphics too small to read the tiles. I have played on all of the difficulty levels and didn’t have any problems reading most of the tiles. The problem I came across was that on some of the tile layouts, the tiles in extreme corner positions are covered by interface controls. For those, the “zoom” (Y button or magnifying glass in the lower right corner) was *required* to see what the tiles were and in some cases even to select. I find the time limit for the medium (5 min) and hard (3:00) a little too aggressive for the interface. [3/5]
Mind Bender: aka Mastermind. Standard color/sequence matching rules of Mastermind and other similar games. The stylus drag of the balls was a nice touch, but I occasionally found myself “dropping” the ball in a position other than I had in mind. The interface does not forgive this, no undo or moving the ball once placed. Green pegs show count correctly selected and placed balls; red pegs count correctly selected and mis-placed balls. [4/5]
Cross Sums: aka Kakuro. Standard row/column addition with no number duplication in same row/column rules. This isn’t one that I’ve seen yet in the N.DS titles at which I’ve looked, so I count that as good. The interface here is similar in constraints to the Sudoku section, but not quite as critical until the hard difficulty. [4/5]
Go: Standard Go (Japanese, I believe) rules. Black moves first, but no komi. Unfortunately, there is no difficulty setting on this one (I would have liked to see this). The AI for this can not be stronger than 18kyu, so it’s fairly easy to beat once you have some concept of shape, life/death, and attack. I do, however, really like the interface they chose for this: Full board on top screen and zoomed section on bottom. Multiple methods of stone placement (control pad and “A” or stylus). The challenge for this one for me is simply “How horribly can I beat the AI?”, but kudos for having Go; haven’t seen enough of it yet for N.DS. [4/5]
Missing option: Ability to reset “high scores”.
Overall presentation of the games and instructions for them is done well, but there are some areas that should have been focused on a little more.
19 July 2009
Great classic returns, Super Mario 3!
6 of 7 found this helpful As a kid, I was 6 when this great classic originally made its debut. Even then, I saw the vast improvement in graphics that was made through the life of the “Mario” games. Of those, Mario 3 took the spot of my favorite NES game and has held that spot since. Seeing this release for the GBA, once I had a system to play it on (N.DSLite), it was one that I *really* wanted. It certainly hasn’t disappointed me in its nostalgic and classic sense. That the GBA title also includes the original arcade version of the Mario Bros. game (as previous Super Mario Advance titles), is also a nice bonus.
I have only one minor complaint. This complaint focuses around the saving feature. Although nice for a game with this kind of length, there are really two “types” of saves:
(1) A “hard” save: You are prompted by the game at “checkpoints” (castles) on if you wish to save or not. The “hard” saves can be loaded multiple times.
(2) A “soft” save: This is used when you wish to stop playing and use the “start” button to “Save & Quit”. This “soft” save can only be loaded once to continue from where you saved.
This is different from the saving feature that is in “Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World”, which treats all saves as “hard” saves. This is what I prefer as it allows saving immediately before entering any level. If you die, load and repeat. Not so for “Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario 3”.
Overall, however, this title brings back a great set of classics of the NES. If you grew up playing the Mario games of the that system and the arcade game, “Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario 3” is a must buy.