Review

Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Mitchell
Publisher: Nintendo of America, Inc.

Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 4.7.2007

Review Rating: 6/10

I'm not the best with dates, but at some point in the past few years, Sudoku has become a huge phenomenon. You can find as many Sudoku books in bookstores, supermarkets, and drug stores as crosswords and other popular puzzle books, if not more. And while I usually avoid things that might be described as a "phenomenon," especially when accompanied with "addictive," Sudoku has me in its grip and refuses to let go. I can now solve most puzzles from the weak sauce ones to the, "Oh my God, there's no way a human could beat this" ones.

For the few of you who are unaware of what Sudoku is, it's a number puzzle that doesn't involve any math. Technically, it can be solved with any set of nine symbols, letters, or pictures, but it's easiest (and more traditional) to use numbers. You are given a 9x9 grid divided into nine 3x3 grids. Each row, column, and 3x3 grid can only have one of each number in it. Each puzzle starts with some of the boxes filled in. For an easy puzzle, there are typically many ways to solve the puzzle. But the harder ones may only have one possible solving point that you need to find. If you'd like more information on Sudoku, I'd recommend starting with the Wikipedia entry.

Sudoku Gridmaster is Nintendo's answer to the Sudoku craze. A member of the Touch Generations series, it is made up solely of traditional Sudoku puzzles--over 400 of them. These come in four difficulties, which is the standard range of difficulty in most Sudoku books.

The best way to play Sudoku is to use a pencil and paper. No computer or video game has yet convinced me that there is a better way. Sudoku Generations does a fairly good job, though. The grid is nice and big, taking up most of the bottom screen. As you may have guessed, the top screen is not used very well, but what could you really put there in a useful sense? Entering information into a cell is done by first clicking it, and then using the panel on the right to enter a number. This is done by either using a keypad or, by changing a setting in the game options, drawing the number using the stylus. You can enter your guess at the number, or if you're not quite ready yet, use the four corners of a cell to enter what possibilities you have narrowed that cell down to.

Of course, being able to draw in the tiny cell like you would on paper isn't possible on the small DS screen, but it needs to be said that having to click each cell and then go over to the right side to enter your number can get old. Also, once you have clicked a cell, the game gives some visual help by highlighting the row and column it is in. At first, this seems great, but that's not how you solve the harder puzzles. You do more complicated scanning and checking of what numbers are possible besides just the lines you are on, so the highlighted area becomes distracting at best.

You start off doing the "practice" difficulty puzzles. These are normal, though very easy, Sudoku puzzles, but the gameplay varies from the later difficulties. When you enter an incorrect number into a cell, it tells you. This helpful tip is gone once you start on the easy modes. Playing through enough puzzles unlocks the rank tests. These are also ordinary puzzles, but you must beat them in a set time limit to earn your medals.

One of the better parts of Sudoku Gridmaster is the scoring. You are timed, and depending on how well you do and how hard the puzzle was, you get a certain number of stars. Get enough, and you unlock new puzzles. On paper, it's impossible to go back to an early Sudoku you did and try to beat your first time, but it is possible here. And I even found myself doing it despite thinking I'd play through each puzzle only once.

The presentation in Sudoku Gridmaster is basically the bare minimum. There are a few color schemes to chose from and some terribly boring music. It's enough to make the game adequate for the Touch Generation, perhaps, but it would have been nice to see some more imaginative themes. Maybe Link could be on the top screen saving Zelda from a particularly hard puzzle while the Dark World theme plays?

As DS games go, there are more compelling games to buy even within the Touch Generations series. As Sudoku games go, it's close to the perfection of a pencil and paper thanks to the stylus, but it's not quite the same. Still, 400+ Sudoku puzzles that I can bring with me anywhere on my DS is not half bad, and it's one of the only choices you have for Sudoku on the DS. In that sense, you can't go wrong.

Boxart

Media

5.10.2006 - E3 Trailer
5.9.2006 - Screenshots (13)