Picross S4

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: Due to the similarities between this game and Picross S3, I’m copying most of this review from my Picross S3 review, and changing the details that have changed)

Picross S4 is of course a Picross game that offers players four 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, 30 Color Picross puzzles, and 150 unlockable “Clip Picross” puzzles comprised of numerous smaller Picross puzzles. This game also includes 2 large “Extra” Picross puzzles, with an additional three unlockable if you have save data from prior games in the series (one for each game).

This is much in line with prior releases in the series, with the fourth game in the series expanding the content even further, with the main difference being in this game’s greatly expanded number of Clip Picross puzzles, as well as the new “Extra” Puzzles. And much as with prior games in the series, 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 bird sounds as you play.

Beyond this, the controls are good, the options and tutorials are solid, there’s decent 2-player Co-Op, and this entry in the series adds new features like color-coded co-op puzzle solving and separately tracking each different type of hint you use to solve a puzzle… really, this game does just about everything I want in a good Picross game, even above and beyond its multiple already-excellent predecessors… however, it still has the same big flaw those games did – 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 S4 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 a marginal improvement over the prior games. 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 S4, 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 S4 to be disappointing.

tl;dr – Picross S4 is a Picross game with 150 traditional Picross puzzles, 150 Mega Picross puzzles, 30 Color Picross puzzles, 150 Clip Picross puzzles comprised of multiple smaller puzzles, and five “Extra” puzzles. Like previous games in the series, this one has a superb presentation and it is otherwise a marginal improvement over the third game due to the expanded number of puzzles. However, this nearly-ideal version of Picross shares the main flaw of its predecessors – a lack of touchscreen controls.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Laziest Copycat

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