Given the volume of the genre found in the eShop, we expect a lot from new digital sudoku games. If someone is going to go ahead and plunk down some cash, a game really needs to bring the thunder compared to the free versions found online and on other devices, or even one of those end-all puzzle books down at the five and dime.
Sudoku by Nikoli has the honour of having the most D's in its genre, but visual pleasantry will only take it so far. With a mere 50 puzzles and lacking a few niceties that we feel should come standard by now, Sudoku by Nikoli doesn't do much to persuade your time and money away from you.
Ten puzzles of varying difficulty are open from the start and the rest unlock as you play – not bad for the novices who might want to check out the helpful explanation of how to play and ramp up the difficulty as you go, but number munchers eager to dive into the hardcore puzzles will have to swing through a portion of relative softballs first. The confusingly titled Random Puzzle Generator sounds like it would shatter the 50 puzzle limit with computer-generated ones, but it actually just acts as a "random" selector for puzzles already unlocked. Which, you know, fine, whatever.
And, well, that’s it for features really. Sudoku by Nikoli doesn’t do much beyond straight-up puzzling. It’s so basic, in fact, that helpful features like pencilling in a number are absent, which makes guessing or experimentation more difficult than necessary. Something is amiss when your application is out-featured by a piece of paper.
The only thing that makes Sudoku by Nikoli stand out is its competitive multiplayer mode that pits you and a friend in a sudoku speed match, which is novel, we suppose, but hardly a compelling bullet point in practice.
Conclusion
We have a hard time imagining just who the target audience is for Sudoku by Nikoli, or why anyone should choose it over competing titles lurking in the DSiWare section of the eShop. Perhaps if you’ve exhausted every single sudoku puzzle available on the platform then the extra 50 will come in handy then Nikoli will look attractive, but everyone else will do just fine without it.
Comments 16
No surprise there.
I hope they don't even bother bringing it to the PAL regions.
i just want that e-picross game japan got in it's eshop
Is... Is this even in 3D?
Telegraph Sudoku + Kakuro is still the best available.
@Jon, you forgot to mention the really bad music...
@Tsuchinoko: All number puzzle music outside of Picross 3D is dead to me anyway!
@47drift: That circle zoom thing on the top screen is sort of a magnifying lens, so picture the sudoku field further deep than it.
Don't bother bringing this crap to Europe.
i want nikoli to bring their other puzzles to the US. people are tired of sudoku, and quite frankly I enjoy Nurikabe and Hitori way more than Sudoku
at least they gave us that 3DS game with Hashiwakakero, Akari and Shikaku in it
Seriously? 50 puzzles? That's it? And it's more expensive than other Sudoku games in the DS Store? I'm (no pun intended) puzzled.
This wasn't even worth reviewing tbh.
IMO, the Telegraph Sudoko/Kakuro is the best one.
Soooo...Nintendo fans gets this horse manure but no La Mulana....oh, sweet cruelty.
It is already very disappointing that the European VC got Castlevania and even Kirby's Dream Land 2... and here in america we just got kirby's block ball. Don't get me wrong, the game looks OK, but I rather play the pinball mini game on Kirby Mass Attack. Nintendo should really start releasing more VC games per week.
@EddieEddieEddie They only did that the first time because there wasn't much 3DSware. Now they have to balance it more. I certainly hope they actually do that more often after E3.
But seriously, HAMSTER made another bad game once again! It seems like they are on a trend.
And I still will never understand why the heck they named their company after a animal. If it was an acronym, that's one thing, but just for the heck of it? That's strange.
when it comes to nikoli's handmade puzzles, 100 puzzles are worth about $8 plus shipping (books), so if it really has only 50 puzzles then that's worth a little over $4, so its not that overpriced, especially for the handcrafted puzzles they're known for
Bleh. I hate Sudoku with a deep and burning passion.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...