The Number Puzzle

Genre: Sudoku Puzzle

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

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Review:

The Number Puzzle is a Puzzle game that’s… well, it’s Sudoku. Why the game doesn’t use the word “Sudoku”, I don’t know – apparently the name is only copyrighted in Japan. But here it is, in the form of “The Number Puzzle”, with 500 puzzles total.

For those unaware how this works, traditionally Sudoku is played on a 9×9 grid that is separated into nine 3×3 squares. Numbers placed at the beginning of each puzzle will determine how the rest of the puzzle is to be filled out – every row and column must have all nine numbers on them with no repeats, and every 3×3 square must also have all nine numbers with no repeats. As such, despite all the numbers, this is a game more about logic than it is about math. “If the 4 isn’t here, it must be here” sorta’ thinking.

The Number Puzzle does have a few game modes where it adds a twist to this formula. In one mode, the diagonal lines from each corner to the center must also include all numbers. In another mode, two puzzles overlap, sharing 4 of their panels.

Despite that the core formula of Sudoku is well-established by this point, the game has some frustrating issues. Firstly, the control is awkward here, making players make multiple selections each time they want to enter a number. Also, usually in videogame versions of Sudoku, players are given a way to “mark” an individual cel with each of the numbers to help them narrow down which ones can go where, and this game does that… sort of. Players here can mark four of the numbers in each cel, a limitation that’s really frustrating.

Also frustrating is that this game doesn’t seem to put any effort into aesthetics or presentation. Everything is fairly bare bones and joyless, which is especially disappointing when the actual gameplay itself is so dry.

I’m a fan of Sudoku games, and the Nintendo Switch seems like the ideal platform to play Sudoku, but The Number Puzzle is absolutely not an ideal way to play it. While there are some interesting ideas here that add a unique spin to the genre, it’s hard to ignore the bad presentation and the broken way this game implements cel marking.

tl;dr – The Number Puzzle is a version of the classic puzzle game Sudoku. It has a few unique and interesting game modes, but it also unfortunately has a joyless presentation and messes up some of the basic fundamentals of the game. If you want Sudoku on the Nintendo Switch, you have multiple better options.

Grade: D+

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