Art Style: Zengage

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless)

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Review:

Art Style: Zengage, known in other regions as NEMREM, 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 sliding colored boxes on-screen to match colored dots floating above them.

The presentation is mostly a non-entity here, with extremely simple 2D visuals doing only the bare minimum needed for the gameplay. It works, but there’s little flair or personality to it. Unfortunately, the one place this game’s presentation is noteworthy is its sound and music, and that’s because it’s just awful.

The tutorial music is aggravating to the point that you will want to mute the game so you can get through it. During stages, you’ll have a mostly placid but slightly unsettling background music as you try to solve the puzzle. This is okay, but definitely not great. However, whenever you beat a stage, you are treated to an ear-piercingly horrible noise akin to dragging nails on a chalkboard. I don’t know what sadistic jerk thought this would be a good idea to keep in the game, but if you’re reading this, know that I hate you.

As for the gameplay, what’s here is fine, but uninspired and not at all compelling. The gameplay feels vaguely akin to trying to solve a Rubix cube, sliding tiles with them looping around to the other side. I will note that this game’s choice to have the tiles below move while the dots above remain stationary seems odd. I would think it would work better if you were moving the dots.

In the end, I suppose if you’re deaf or if you have your Nintendo 3DS on mute, Art Style: Zengage will probably seem like a decent Puzzle game, but also an unmemorable one. If you aren’t deaf and you have the volume on, this is a game that wants you to become deaf or turn the volume off, and this one terrible element turns an otherwise mediocre game into an unbearable one.

tl;dr – Art Style: Zengage is a Puzzle game that has players sliding colored tiles to try to match colored dots floating above them. This is a decent but mediocre Puzzle game made absolutely unbearable by ear-piercing noises the game attacks you with. Even if you play your Nintendo 3DS with the sound off, you have better options than this.

Grade: D+

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