Picross 3D

Picross 3D. It's Picross, but in 3D. Basically. The rules are slightly different, in order to accomodate the extra dimension, but the concept is the same: use numeric logic to color in and knock away blocks, eventually revealing a hidden shape.

The 3D version is (as you'd expect) significantly more complicated than the 2D one, which is a double-edged sword - puzzles can be more challenging, but not always in good ways. The game's modified numeric rules take a little getting used to, but, in time, become satisfying to grasp and work your way around. On the other hand, even the largest 3D puzzles are of such low resolution that the visual reveal is pretty underwhelming. Of the game's more than 350 puzzles, I can count on one hand the number of times I could see what the shape was "supposed" to be, before it was all colored up and animated.

In general, Picross 3D just doesn't seem as polished as its predecessor. Early puzzles are way too easy; some of the later ones are absurdly difficult; and the game forces you to approach the different difficulty levels in order. The puzzle time limits are wildly inconsistent, sometimes unreasonably short, others an order of magnitude more than necessary. Holding a button to mark or destroy blocks makes accidental mistakes rarer, but also makes it impossible to play the game one-handed. While rotating puzzle blocks around, it's often extremely difficult to distinguish between the numbers 2, 3, and 5. The game's weird-looking animated character is crazily nonsensical. And while Picross DS's music was mediocre at best, this one's soundtrack is altogether awful.

But enough bitching. For all my complaints, Picross 3D is a great puzzle game, that's relatively easy to pick up and put down at one's leisure. I'd still recommend the 2D version over it, but if you've already become bored of that one, this'll do quite nicely.

Progress: All 369 puzzles complete