Puzzles–this game’s got ’em. Certainly over 350, which is the total number I’ve completed at this point, which includes all the main in-game puzzles, as well as a chunk of downloaded puzzle packs. Either way, at this point, I’m calling Picross 3D completed, especially because my sister Bitsy wants to play it when she’s home visiting family over the summer. I let her take it for a test drive over the Christmas holidays, and she took down around 75 puzzles so far, but has plenty more to chip away at.
I’ve talked about Picross 3D in the recent past here at Grinding Down. It’s a really fun game that, despite being very mathy, is amazingly addicting. Each puzzle takes anywhere from five to twenty minutes to complete, and it was easy to just say, “Oh, well…one more puzzle.” Hours would slip by, and my Nintendo DS would suddenly need charging. You get into a sort of groove with this title, a title that was released at $20.00. I’m now seeing it on sale for $9.99. If you see this for either of those prices or lower, just pick it up. You won’t regret the decision, I assure you. There’s a lot of content here in an easy, friendly package, with bouncy music and simple controls.
The last few puzzles from the final section of Hard mode were a bit maddening, requiring me to use Quick Saves to not constantly lose 15 minutes of progress. I did not unlock every silver and gold puzzle from each section, and that’s okay. Sure, that means one less shape to guess over, but the desire to unlock everything here is not as strong as in other titles. It’s rewarding enough to complete a 10-minute puzzle all on your own, using your brainpower and math skills and twirling the hunk of blocks around with speed and control, with ferocity. And now to just sit back and wait for the horribly named Picross 3D 3DS. You know it’ll happen.
Vitally important question time: do you pronounce it PEE-CROSS 3D or PICK-CROSS 3D or PIE-CROSS 3D?
Grinding Down 