Puzzle to Go Diddl Review (DSiWare)

A while ago we got Puzzle to Go Wildlife, a relatively decent jigsaw puzzle game marred by one major flaw: over half the puzzles had to be unlocked, which took an eternity. Did developer Tivola learn their lesson from this or not?

For this second Puzzle to Go title, they've managed to license Diddl, a cartoon mouse who, together with his friends, appears on various stationary and other school supplies throughout Europe, and is inexplicably popular among the high school crowd. Because of this popularity, there's been dolls, toys and various other stuff made since his introduction as well.

If you spent money on both games, you'll quickly notice something: this is basically just an expansion pack of sorts, with almost nothing but the puzzle images changed in order to fit the new theme. The general look of the game, as well as the gameplay, is completely unchanged. You still move around jigsaw pieces with the stylus, attempting to fit them together with others. Pieces can't be turned, so don't worry, they're all already in the correct position.

Unfortunately, this also means that the dreadful unlocking system from the previous title is still here as well. You're going to have to solve every puzzle thrice, once on each difficulty level (63, 88 and 130 pieces), in order to attain the maximum three stars that will go to unlocking the next image. Again, you'll unlock a new puzzle with every four stars you earn, so be prepared to put in a ton of time if you want to try and get everything.

The only other thing that has changed is the background music, which, although slightly better than that in the previous game, is still quite obnoxious and repetitive. The ability to turn your DSi photos into puzzles is thankfully still available and is, of course, exactly the same, still allowing you to mess around with pictures you have easily.