Sudoku Universe

Genre: Sudoku Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

Sudoku Universe is a Sudoku Puzzle game that is split into three sections: Sudoku Universe (with 200 puzzles), Sudoku Jigsaw (with 100 puzzles), and Sudoku Killer (with 100 puzzles), with each mode separating puzzles by difficulty. Each of these modes plays slightly differently, but the core concept is the same – you are filling a 9×9 grid with numbers so that each column and row has all numbers in it and no repeating numbers.

In Sudoku Universe mode, as with all traditional Sudoku games, the grid is already partly filled out and you are tasked with completing it, with an additional rule that all nine 3×3 sections also include all nine numbers without repeating them. In Sudoku Jigsaw mode, the rules are similar, but now instead of 3×3 section, each section is an odd shape.

However, I found myself most intrigued with the third mode, Sudoku Killer, which takes the traditional Sudoku rules, removes all of the filled-in squares, and instead includes smaller sections within the board whose total sum must equal a certain number – so in other words, a two-square section with a score of 6 could have a 5 and a 1 or a 4 and a 2. However, as with all Sudoku, this is less about math and more about logic – what numbers must go in what places because they can’t go elsewhere.

After taking some time to get used to it, I have to say I absolutely love Sudoku Killer – it’s a wonderful twist on the classic formula that had me looking at these puzzles in a totally different way, although I will warn players that it is extremely easy to make a mistake in this mode, resulting in a need to restart the puzzle because it’s damn near impossible to track down where you went wrong. Much to my dismay, while this game has a “hint” option, there doesn’t appear to be any way to check your puzzle to see if you’ve made a mistake.

When it comes to options, Sudoku Universe has a wealth of display modes to choose from, separated into light and dark displays, and players can even have a random light or random dark display for each puzzle. Sadly, there’s no suck option for changing the music track, although I should say that the music here is appropriately calming, even if it repeats a bit more frequently than I’d like.

However, one of the big hurdles a lot of Sudoku videogames have to cross is the controls, and here Sudoku Universe stumbles somewhat. Players can mark down answers or notes, but the controls to swap between these are awkward, and frustratingly the position of the cursor resets to one every time you move from one square to another. It’s even worse in handheld mode, since I couldn’t find any way to mark notes using the touchscreen.

It’s frustrating that Sudoku Universe has such frustrating controls, because otherwise this is a phenomenal Sudoku game with plenty of options, multiple game modes, a good variety of puzzles, and a solid presentation. Players who can tolerate some strangeness in a control scheme may still want to give this a try – if you can deal with the controls, this is an excellent game of Sudoku.

tl;dr – Sudoku Universe is a Sudoku Puzzle game with 200 traditional puzzles, 100 “Sudoku Jigsaw” puzzles, and 100 puzzles in the superb “Sudoku Killer” mode. This game has plenty of options, a good presentation, and would be the ideal Sudoku game if the controls weren’t so awkward and frustrating, and if the game wasn’t missing a “check” feature. If you can tolerate a little frustration, this may still be worth checking out though.

Grade: C+

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