The DS gets another puzzler, but is it any good?
Colour Cross is a challenging puzzle game where the goal is to uncover the hidden picture by applying the right colour to the appropriate square. Utilizing the familiar ‘paint by numbers’ picture logic puzzle mechanic, completing a grid will reveal a portion of a larger hidden image as well as unlocking increasingly difficult challenges. With over 150 individual grids to unlock, Colour Cross provides hours of brain-teasing gameplay that is colourful in more ways than one.
Colour Cross for Nintendo DS Features:
Decipher the correct position of each colour to form a picture
Mark suspected locations to prevent mistakes
Every board completed reveals a section of a larger hidden picture
150 distinctive puzzles to solve from ten themes
High return-to-play draw
Since the DS came out, there have been countless puzzle games including Picross, Polarium and many others. Some have been great while others have been terribly pointless. Colour Cross is one of those games that seems a good idea on paper, but poorly executed.
The idea of Colour Cross is to apply colours to a grid based on numbers around the edges. In some ways, it reminds me of Sudoku so if you aren’t a fan of that then I suggest you look elsewhere for a puzzler. The main trouble with the game is that there’s no distinct punishment for making mistakes other than getting a penalty time bonus added, which doesn’t really matter unless you are trying to show off how quickly you can do the grids.
The idea seems confusing at first as it doesn’t come across very well in the tutorial. I was a little puzzled until I went back through the tutorial for a second time. There are tons of the puzzles and the grids become larger and more challenging. For some reason, there is no multiplayer of any kind…which is incredibly odd for a DS game…I wasn’t expecting online, but not even local play? It’s a real shame as you could have played with a friend and competes to do a grid before the other player. Yet another missed opportunity.
The visuals are very basic as you can tell from the screenshots but the game isn’t even that much fun to play. I love puzzle games but become utterly bored of Colour Cross. It lacks any real charm and carries no incentive to play other than to beat your own times and unlock more grids. The reason most puzzle games are successful is that they offer something else for you to do, but this game just has the grids in single player. It’s incredibly basic and won’t keep your attention for too long.
The Verdict
I wish I had more to say, but Colour Cross only has one game mode that’s far too boring and simple. Stick to the much better DS puzzlers and leave this one on the shelf.
