Ace Mathician

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Ace Mathician is a Puzzle-Platformer released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2012, and also released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. This game has you controlling a koala on the top screen trying to collect stars and then get to the food at the end of the level, while entering math equations on the bottom screen to change the layout of platforms on the top screen.

The presentation here is cute, using colorful 2D pixel art visuals backed by upbeat music, with your character shouting a “yeah!” when they reach the food. Unfortunately, the framerate here seems to be a bit choppy, despite that this clearly is not pushing the platform very hard.

As for the math theme, unfortunately I just do not think this is going to be very pleasing, either for math nerds or for those who aren’t enthusiastic about math – the former will be disappointed that each level restricts them to only a select few numbers and functions, while the latter will soon find themselves confused by the sine waves they’re expected to produce using these functions, leading to them brute-forcing solutions through trial and error.

There’s another issue as well. This game’s touchscreen detection is not great, and I often found myself having to tap the screen multiple times to get the game to register what I was doing.

Overall, I applaud Ace Mathician for trying to do something unique and interesting, but the execution here leaves a lot to be desired, and the technical issues and design limitations keep this game from meeting the full potential of that great concept.

tl;dr – Ace Mathician is a Puzzle-Platformer where players input math equations on the touchscreen to control where platforms on the top screen are. It’s a clever idea, but the game doesn’t provide enough options to make for truly creative puzzle-solving, and those who aren’t into math will feel left out here. Plus add in some control and performance issues, and you have a game that’s just too poorly-executed to capitalize on its great idea. Skip it.

Grade: D+

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