Picross e8

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Picross e8, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2017, 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 and a relaxed, synthesized soundtrack.

There’s no actual tutorial here for newcomers to Picross, just a how-to guide. Once you get into the game proper, you have 150 standard Picross, plus 3 “Micross” Puzzles consisting of 44-54 small “Clip Picross” levels that combine into one larger picture, and 150 “Mega Picross” puzzles with hints that span across two rows or columns (with these puzzles apparently being repeats of the standard Picross puzzles). In addition, for each of the first three games in the series on your Nintendo 3DS, the game will unlock 5 additional Mega Picross puzzles (up to 15 total – you get nothing extra for having Picross e4 or later games, apparently). 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.

Picross e8 includes the improvements to the series that were introduced in Picross e7, but doesn’t improve beyond that. That still leaves this as one of the better Picross games on the Nintendo 3DS, but leaves some room for improvement. Still, if you have a Nintendo 3DS and enjoy Picross Puzzles games, I think you’ll be pleased with this one.

tl;dr – Picross e8 is a Picross Puzzle game that features a simple presentation, good controls, and has 150 standard Picross puzzles, 3 “Micross” Puzzles, 150 “Mega Picross” puzzles (repeats of the standard Picross puzzles), as well as some others you can unlock if you own prior games in the series, all for $6. This game doesn’t really improve the formula beyond what we saw in Picross e7, but what’s here is still good overall, and well worth getting if you’re looking for a Picross game on Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: B

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