Art Style: Digidrive

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless)

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Review:

Art Style: Digidrive is a Puzzle game released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2009 and then grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when that system was released. This game has players using buttons or the touchscreen to guide different-colored vehicles into various lanes to add fuel to a meter.

I’ll be honest, I had a hard time wrapping my head around this game’s rules and strategy. You’re operating at a four-way intersection, and must sort simple shapes representing vehicles. There are only three colors for these vehicles (black, red, and white), but you cannot direct a vehicle to turn back the way it came, so at minimum each vehicle theoretically needs both a horizontal and vertical lane to go in… meaning that third color is eventually going to ride in and mess everything up.

Except that isn’t necessarily the case, because under the right conditions, sending a vehicle down the wrong-colored path can cause that path to merge with another, making for a compound bonus. What’s more, there’s a fourth vehicle type I haven’t mentioned, a flashing vehicle that “banks” the accumulated fuel of a lane and uses it to progress your “disc” on the opposite screen away from a game-ending “spike” that is gradually moving towards it.

It’s all a bit odd and abstract, which isn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, but none of it quite feels natural to me. While I have a basic feel for this game, it never gave me that compelling feeling i look for in a good Puzzle game, it only made me feel anxious and uncertain.

Having said that, I can concede that this game seems relatively well-designed, it’s fairly unique, it has a good array of options, it controls well (both touchscreen and button controls work great), and while its visuals are stylishly simple, the electronica soundtrack is wonderfully modern and has a nice chill vibe to it.

For someone else, Digidrive might be an ideal Puzzle game. But for me, I just could not fall in love with it. I concede that all the pieces are here for a great Puzzle game, but for me those pieces just don’t fit together in a way that gels for me. However, I suppose that for $5, it’s not much of a risk, and players looking for another unique Puzzle game to add to their Nintendo 3DS collection may want to give this a try anyway. Perhaps you’ll appreciate it more than I did.

tl;dr – Art Style: Digidrive is a Puzzle game that has players directing various-colored vehicles down lanes at a four-way intersection. This game is stylish, has a good soundtrack, and has a good amount of options, but the gameplay just did not feel natural to me in a way that felt compelling and kept pulling me back. However, for the $5 price, it may still be worth a look.

Grade: C+

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