Hamster continues to roll out piecemeal the components of its forthcoming retail package Sudoku + 7 Other Complex Puzzles by Nikoli onto the eShop, now breaking out the brain-bender Slitherlink by Nikoli. Unlike past efforts Sudoku by Nikoli and Kakuro by Nikoli, Slitherlink offers a type of teaser seldom seen in digital form and that novelty factor alone might propel puzzle mavens to give it a serious look. However, its barebones package might make the 50 puzzles more difficult for novices to wrap their head around than it should.
Slitherlink's name says it all: the objective is to create a single unbroken, uncrossed link that slithers and wriggles all around the numerical playing grid. Each digit tells how many sides of its corresponding box are a part of the link, with blank boxes to use however needed. Like all good puzzles, its simple premise is diabolical in practice as weaving one large link between swaths of numbers is never as easy as 1, 2, 3.
This package is feature-consistent with the other Nikoli titles, which means 50 puzzles of varying difficulty that unlock as others are conquered, a local multiplayer race-like mode and a helpful tutorial to get acquainted to Slitherlink's quirks and nuances.
All in all, though, the package is fairly sparse for a digital offering, and a lack of hint system to unstick progress from inevitable mud is sorely felt — especially if you are new to the world of number puzzles. What Hamster has packaged is essentially a collection of puzzles that would function just the same on paper, which feels like a huge missed opportunity to do something special with what are genuinely interesting puzzles.
Conclusion
Perhaps Nikoli is too pleased with its hand-crafted puzzles to mechanise them with video game conventions, but lacking the will to really embrace its new medium ultimately will keep these puzzle packages from hitting their potential. Slitherlink by Nikoli suffers from the same indifference as previous — and likely future — releases, making it a tough sell for someone looking for more than just paper puzzles.
Comments 22
So it's a good(ish) game, you would just prefer paper puzzles instead of it?
well at least it got a 5 from this site's brutal rating system. I'm going to get them all anyway, I love all of nikoli's puzzles. can't wait for more of nikoli's releases (here's hoping for hitori and nurikabe and fillomino )
btw i say brutal because this site did not give yoshi's story for n64 the 7 it deserves, and it has the REALLY BAD tendency to rate games by comparing them to other games already out there, which is NEVER OKAY. EVER
I once borrowed a Japanes import cart called "Puzzle Series Vol 5:Slitherlink" from a friend of mine and enjoyed it. Think Nintendo Gamer (formerly NGamer) game it 81 percent. For that reason I'm v.interested in this despite the devs lack of enthusiasm.
So wait... what is the "type of teaser seldom seen in digital form"? Am I missing something? Was genuinely interested in this, and still might be. I'm on a number puzzle kick and you can't find this type of puzzle anywhere else in the States, as far as I know.
Oh. Or you could go here http://www.puzzle-loop.com/ to try these type of puzzles out for yourself, if you haven't before. I'm sure the Nikoli ones are better, but this'll give you a taste.
I got this and can't beat a single easy puzzle. I need help with these puzzles!
These games are not worth owning by themselves. Best to put them in an eShop-related folder on the 3DS menu for when you've got nothing else to play.
Aw man. This is a short game depending on how fast you can beat the puzzles. Actually I'll give this a try.
i like puzzle games as a larger game transition.
or on the toilet bowl.
I nominate @Samholy for Hall of Fame status.
Pass as usual....
@Kyloctopus i prefer having the physical pencil paper books yes because i can make more marks in them, however these are way cheaper when you consider shipping cost from japan to the US, and also they arrive instantly to your 3DS instead of taking 3-5 weeks for a book to ship
The slitherlink game on Android (paid version) is waaaay better than this one with unlimited puzzles (for just 1.50 bucks) :-/
@ymmas626 harsh... if you're having trouble with nikoli puzzles just look at some of the tutorials on their website http://nikoli.com/en/ and remember that NONE of nikoli's puzzles require ANY guessing. every step can be found logically and there is only ONE solution to every puzzle they make. i encourage you to at least try Akari when it comes out because that is the easiest of their puzzles in my opinion and Sudoku and Kakuro are the two hardest puzzles they make.
@Cengoku i assume those unlimited puzzles are not handmade? there is a certain quality found in handmade puzzles that you don't see in computer generated ones (which tend to be frustrating as the computer will make illogical leaps in logic that can be hard to follow). if you have ever seen one of nikoli's large slitherlink puzzles they draw really cool pictures with the numbers and they are really fun to solve
if you can see the difference of a good handmade puzzle compared to a random generate, all nikoli's puzzles deserves your attention. they are fluid and the well balanced puzzle design delivers a great sense of accomplishment, its a shame that Hamster made that poor interface, including bad use of the touch screen, numbers very small in big puzzles and annoyng sound effects. but what really matters are the puzzles and they are a real blast. with 5 bucks you have at least 25 hours of pure fun.
@candymonster YAY someone that agrees with me! hey do you have Nikoli's Pencil Puzzle game for 3DS (which has amazing GUI and touch screen controls and it's only $15 I think)? did you find out how to unlock the hidden 5th puzzle yet? I want to know what it is and solving the too-many-sudoku's they put in the game is taking forever
and @ymmas626 that's fine, hamster did do a pretty lousy job on the gui. if you enjoy pencil paper puzzles like sudoku or picross (picross is the only other popular example thats not too hard) I still encourage you to check out the 140 free sample puzzles on nikoli's site. in my opinion akari is the easiest and nurikabe is the funnest.
I once bought Slitherlink's Hudson game in Japan when I was there. I love it but 50 puzzles for 5 bucks is a steal. Yeah the android version have automatically generated puzzles but there 5 different styles of grids that makes the game cooler. I'm sure that if this one comes to Europe, it will cost 5 euros which is too high.
This is a really odd review. In fact, I'd say that it's the worst review i've seen on this site in recent memory. It just doesn't make sense.
There's no question Slitherlink is one of the greatest puzzles invented - better than Sudoku in my mind. To argue that a video game version offers nothing better than a paper puzzle is ridiculous. Just try erasing badly placed lines on the paper version!
I own an earlier DS version of this game, "Puzzle Series Vol 5: Slitherlink" (by Hudson) that I imported from Japan. It is 10/10 rated by Eurogamer.net ( http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/puzzle-series-vol-5-slitherlink-review ). That score, along with extensive playing by myself, confirms that Slitherlink makes a pretty much perfect videogame.
So, to the 5/10 score given here. It's perfectly possible that Hamster have done a bad job with their version of the game. But this review doesn't even begin to tell me why or how that might be. I'm thoroughly disappointed with @JonWahlgren and NintendoLife for not putting in the effort for this review.
If anyone want's to play a great version of slitherlink online, definitely give http://slitherlink.com a try.
Why hasn't this come to Europe yet?
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