Picross S2

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Picross S2 is of course a Picross game that offers players three different types of Picross-style puzzles – the game includes 150 traditional Picross puzzles, 150 “Mega Picross”-style puzzles where some of the numerical hints combine multiple rows or columns at once, and 10 unlockable “Clip Picross” puzzles comprised of numerous smaller Picross puzzles.

It’s a decent amount of content that expands beyond what was in the first game, and this content is paired with a pretty good presentation, with clean, colorful visuals and four relaxing songs to choose between while you play, as well as the option to just have ocean sounds as you play (a nice touch).

Beyond this, the controls are good, the options and tutorials are solid, there’s decent 2-player Co-Op… really, this game does just about everything I want in a good Picross game, save for one thing – this game has absolutely no touchscreen controls, which I’d argue is kinda’ a staple of this genre on any platform with a touchscreen.

I should also mention one other flaw this game has – not all of its puzzles are original. Rather, the Mega Picross mode re-uses some of the puzzles from the traditional Picross mode. It’s fine, as the different modes make each of these puzzles play differently, but it’s still a bit of a let-down to solve a puzzle and see an image you already have in your collection.

Without touchscreen controls, Picross S2 is unfortunately an imperfect iteration of the Picross formula, which is a shame because in every other respect, this is a pretty ideal version of Picross, and an improvement over the first game. If you enjoy Puzzle games and play them mainly in docked mode or don’t mind the lack of touchscreen controls, you should definitely get Picross S2, as it is otherwise a phenomenal entry in the genre. However, if you expect your Picross games to make use of this feature, you may find Picross S2 to be disappointing.

tl;dr – Picross S2 is a Picross game with 150 traditional Picross puzzles, 150 Mega Picross puzzles, and 10 Clip Picross puzzles comprised of multiple smaller puzzles, with a superb presentation and plenty of game options above and beyond the first game. However, like the first game, this nearly-ideal version of Picross falls short of perfection due to a lack of touchscreen controls.

Grade: B

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