Picross e4

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Picross e4, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2014, is a Picross Puzzle game that shares a lot in common with earlier games in the series. As such, I’m going to be copy-pasting most of this review from my review of the previous game. As with the prior game, this game has a simple, clean presentation. This presentation is backed by a relaxed, synthesized soundtrack that isn’t quite as annoying as prior entries’, thankfully, though I do wish we were given more options.

There’s no actual tutorial here for newcomers to Picross, just a how-to guide. Once you get into the game proper, you have 105 standard Picross puzzles, plus 2 “Micross” Puzzles consisting of 34 and 53 small “Clip Picross” levels that combine into one larger picture, and 45 “Mega Picross” puzzles with hints that span across two rows or columns. In addition, for each prior game in the series on your Nintendo 3DS, the game will unlock 5 additional Mega Picross puzzles (up to 15 total). For $6, I think that’s a fairly decent price.

Players can use standard gamepad controls or touchscreen controls to fill in puzzles – the latter are good, though a little inhibited by the small size of the Nintendo 3DS screen. Those who played Pokemon Picross will find the control setup to be similar here. Unfortunately, the assistance options available to the player seem to be tied to the individual puzzles themselves, meaning that you can’t just have a uniform experience across the entire game if you prefer certain types of help or assistance.

However, that’s not the worst problem with Picross e4. Unfortunately, this game lacks a pretty standard feature of Picross puzzle games – the ability to temporarily mark a cel while you’re trying to test whether or not it’s filled. Cels in this game can only be blank, filled, or marked with an “X”.

Picross e4 is a small step above prior games in the series due to its greater amount and variety of content, but it still lacks some basic features that are fairly standard for Picross games. With multiple other, better Picross games on the Nintendo 3DS, I advise you to skip this one and go for one of those other options.

tl;dr – Picross e4 is a Picross Puzzle game that features a simple presentation, good controls, and has 105 standard Picross puzzles, 2 “Micross” Puzzles, 45 “Mega Picross” puzzles, as well as some others you can unlock if you own prior games in the series, all for $6. Unfortunately, your access to help options is limited, and there’s no way to temporarily mark cels. Given these limitations, and the abundance of other, better Picross games on the Nintendo 3DS, you’re better off getting a different Picross game instead of this.

Grade: C

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