Crosswords Plus

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1, StreetPass Content

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Review:

Crosswords Plus, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, is primarily a Crossword Puzzle game, though there is additional content in the form of Word Search puzzles, Anagram Puzzles, and Word Path puzzles. However, the Crosswords are the main focus here, with over 1000 crossword puzzles to solve.

Although graphics and sound are clearly not the main selling point here, this game does what it can to keep things from getting too bland while still maintaining a modern, professional-looking presentation. The game makes use of stereoscopic 3D in menus, and completing puzzles results in a colorful explosion of streamers and confetti. Meanwhile, your puzzling will be backed by subdued, calm music that works well for the sort of tone this game sets.

The puzzles themselves are sorted into various difficulties, with more difficult puzzles making more obscure references or featuring more obtuse clues. Players answer these puzzles by drawing the letters on the touchscreen, and these letters are mostly recognized pretty well by the game, though there are definitely moments where the letter recognition messes up, forcing you to go back and redo the letter.

Another frustration is that this game doesn’t allow players immediate access to all its content, but unlocks it gradually – some things unlock as you progress, some unlock after an arbitrary amount of time, and some content unlocks via StreetPass. It does ensure that the game is constantly giving you new stuff… but that’s only because that stuff was denied to you previously.

However, while it’s not perfect, Crosswords Plus is pretty much exactly what you’d hope for in a Crossword Puzzles game. The game plays well enough, there’s a hefty amount of content (even if you have to jump through hoops to get some of it), there’s decent variety, and the presentation is conducive to the gameplay. If you want a Crossword Puzzle game on the Nintendo 3DS, this one should satisfy that craving.

tl;dr – Crosswords Plus is a Crossword Puzzle game with over 1000 crossword puzzles, plus some puzzles of other puzzle types. Players enter letters using the touchscreen, and while the game does sometimes mess up character recognition and some of the game’s content is withheld to ration out to the player over time, largely this is a solid take on this sort of game, and Nintendo 3DS players wanting a Crossword Puzzle game should find this to be satisfactory.

Grade: B-

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