I really liked the first 3D Picross on DS, so I was of course very excited when I heard they were making a 2nd one for 3DS. In typical me-fashion, I waited ages until it was on sale so I could get a physical version from Japan (didn't come out physically here), and then waited even longer to eventually play it in the first place XD . I finally started it a couple weeks ago, and then 56.5 hours later, I finished it XD . This game has a TON of puzzles, and they're really good fun! I played through the whole game on "Bitter" difficulty, and got rainbow rank on all 364 puzzles as well as unlocking all but 1 amiibo puzzle (I don't have a Link amiibo XP).
3D Picross turns the traditional picross formula on its side by putting it in the third dimension. Instead of several numbers indicating how many sets of unbroken blocks are in a 2D picture, each puzzle has a series of blocks with solid numbers on them. A plain number indicates a single unbroken stream of blocks, a number in a circle indicates the set is in two sets, and a number in a square indicates three or more sets. 3D Picross 2 ups the ante on that even more by making it not just numbers, but colored numbers. Now blocks can have clues for both orange and blue numbers, both of which can have the aforementioned shape modifiers. Orange blocks indicate a block that will be modified or curved upon the completion of the puzzle, while blue blocks are ones that will stay blocky. Even more-so than 3D Picross 1, the two sets of colors/numbers means re-teaching yourself how to 3D Picross all over again, and it's SO worth it for how tough and mind-bending some of the puzzles are. The game does have some features to make the game more palatable for everyone though. I played on the hardest "Bitter" difficulty, but there are two other flavors of lower difficulties that provide more hints in each puzzle (Bitter is effectively having exactly enough information to complete the puzzles: no more no less). The game even sets the starting difficulty for you depending on how much trouble you have on the tutorial stages. You get higher ranks depending on how quickly you complete each puzzle and on how few mistakes you have, and higher difficulties provide higher points modifiers at the end (how many diamond (the second highest) ranks you have as well as how many points and how many sets you've completed unlock new puzzles to play). The music is good, as well are the puzzles, although give the game is so long I'd really recommend some good podcasts to listen to while you're going through them, as there aren't THAT many music tracks in the game. The only real mechanical issue I have with the game would be that it can be hard to tell if you've completed a section or not because of how the colors look. The colors fade a bit when you've done all of that color's blocks in a line, but it can be hard to tell, particularly with the orange numbers on an orange block, if you've got it dimmed out or not. The same goes with how hard it can be to see the numbers on the much larger puzzles, as there is no dedicated zoom feature. I played this on a 2DS XL, and I can only imagine how hard it is to see the hint numbers playing on a normal 3DS when there are both colors of hint numbers on a block. Even on my bigger screen, I would frequently mistake a circled number for a squared one and vice versa when it was an orange-on-orange number/color combo. However, unless you're going for rainbow-ranks on everything, this is not that important a complaint, and will only add to your miss-counter. Very few puzzles have the penalty for getting misses as puzzle failures (like 10-15 out of the 364). Verdict: Highly Recommended. It's probably one of the best picross experiences out there. Graphical information problems aside, with all the difficulty features helping with accessibility, this is a game anyone can pour tons of time into without running out of puzzles to complete. I'd go as far as to say there are TOO many puzzles, because the game just doesn't want you to run out of puzzles to complete. Play as many or as little as you want, as easy or as tough as you want, and you can still have a great time with 3D Picross 2 ^w^
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AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
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