Games Database
DS/DSi
Puzzle
| Viewed: | 2D Static screen | Genre: | Puzzle |
| Media: | Cartridge | Arcade origin: | No |
| Developer: | Nintendo | Soft. Co.: | Nintendo |
| Publishers: | Nintendo
(GB) |
Released: | 11 Mar 2005
(GB) |
| Ratings: | PEGI 3+ |
Summary
An addictive puzzler is something of a staple for the Nintendo handheld. The first Game Boy came packaged with killer app Tetris, and available at launch for the Game Boy Advance was the rather splendid Kuru Kuru Kururin.
The DS is stoutly re-enacting this fine tradition with Nintendo’s Polarium. The title refers to the game’s somewhat polarised appearance – shunning the gorgeous N64 palette the DS can display on its twin screens, the game is almost exclusively cast in minimalist black and white.
A sort of cross between Othello and Tetris, gameplay revolves around tiles that can be flipped from black to white or vice versa. Like in Tetris, they fall from the top of the screen, and must be flipped into rows of all white or all black with deft flicks of the stylus. Only then will the rows disappear. As well as the main mode, there are 100 puzzles to keep you going, but a custom puzzle feature allows you to create your own, and lay down the gauntlet by sending them to other DS-keteers.
And communication-focused as the new console is, that’s far from being the only way you can interact with other players. Wireless two player battling is fully supported, and again presumably inspired by Tetris, rows you get rid of reappear on your opponent’s screen. Unlike Tetris though, you are kept completely up-to-date on his plight by a display of his screen on the top screen of your DS. This two player mode also features ‘?’ boxes with power-ups to spice it up a little bit more.
The proceedings are all accompanied by a quirky and sophisticated electronica soundtrack, which combined with the iPod-clean lines of the game screen leave you in no doubt that Polarium is something for the cultivated and discerning gamer.
The DS is stoutly re-enacting this fine tradition with Nintendo’s Polarium. The title refers to the game’s somewhat polarised appearance – shunning the gorgeous N64 palette the DS can display on its twin screens, the game is almost exclusively cast in minimalist black and white.
A sort of cross between Othello and Tetris, gameplay revolves around tiles that can be flipped from black to white or vice versa. Like in Tetris, they fall from the top of the screen, and must be flipped into rows of all white or all black with deft flicks of the stylus. Only then will the rows disappear. As well as the main mode, there are 100 puzzles to keep you going, but a custom puzzle feature allows you to create your own, and lay down the gauntlet by sending them to other DS-keteers.
And communication-focused as the new console is, that’s far from being the only way you can interact with other players. Wireless two player battling is fully supported, and again presumably inspired by Tetris, rows you get rid of reappear on your opponent’s screen. Unlike Tetris though, you are kept completely up-to-date on his plight by a display of his screen on the top screen of your DS. This two player mode also features ‘?’ boxes with power-ups to spice it up a little bit more.
The proceedings are all accompanied by a quirky and sophisticated electronica soundtrack, which combined with the iPod-clean lines of the game screen leave you in no doubt that Polarium is something for the cultivated and discerning gamer.