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Title: Polarium
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Difficulty: Hard
Review written by: Dan (drumgamer57)
*This is a very interesting game for the Nintendo DS. The concept behind it is to draw lines on a grid of black and white tiles, where the ones that are drawn on change colors when the line is completed. When a row is all the same color, it dissapears. This is the basic idea behind the whole game, similar to Tetris in its simplicity and complete absence of plot. There are three main modes of play: Challenge, Puzzle, and Versus. There is also a training and practice mode, and those are both well excecuted to teach newbies the idea behind the game.
Challenge mode is very similar to Tetris in that blocks fall from the top screen to the bottom where the player must quickly draw efficient lines to prevent blocks from building up and going over a red line on the top screen. The only thing about this mode that bothers me is that it follows the same pattern every game. After playing a few
games, one can predict the next sequence and draw the lines even before the bricks fall, and then finish the line by tapping the end of it right when the bricks fall into the line. One of the cool features is that when the player gets a high score (top 3), the player gets to make a personal drawing instead of placing initials. It's a nice touch.
Puzzle mode presents 100 increasingly challenging puzzles to the player to solve by drawing a single line. This gets to be /very/ hard. The puzzles are very complex and challenging. However, because there is always more than one puzzle available to try, there isn't a great deal of frustration. another feature in puzzle mode is the ability for the player to make his/her own puzzles and send them to other DS's with a Polarium cartridge. However, I do not have the resources to analyze this mode of play. However, I can say that creating one's own puzzles just for kicks can be a lot of fun.
Versus mode is rather interesting. Versus mode is two-player with one cartridge and two DS's, with player two using his/her DS in download mode. In this mode, players actually turn their DS's to the side so the top screen becomes the right screen and the touch screen is the left screen. The battle starts out with each player having half of a screen full of bricks, and each player makes lines with the bricks on his/her screen, which are then reset and sent to the opponent's screen. The player that gets rid of all the bricks on his/her side first wins. Opponents may set the time to 45 or 90 seconds or infinite time and play 5,10, or 20 round matches. I have played this with my brother and I can honestly say that battles can really go either way, ending quickly or dragging on for a long time. It's a lot of fun.
*Gameplay:* The concept behind this game, using the stylus to draw
lines
and tapping the last brick in a line to end it, is beautifully
executed.
The concept is infectiously addictive, especially for those like me who
love puzzle games. If you like the idea behind Tetris, this is right up
your alley. The only complaint I really have is that because of the
sensitive nature of the game, it is a pain to play while riding in a
car.
*Graphics:* This is no Gran Turismo 4 here. The graphics are very
simple, and yet satisfying, similar to the simplistic cool look of the
iPod. The game is almost devoid of color, except for a little blue and
orange thrown in for good measure. Simply put, the graphics get the job
done and turn out great on the DS.
*Sound:* The sound effects are nothing flashy, but get the job done.
There is a slick clicky sound that the player makes when drawing lines,
and the one music loop in the game is sort of a slow, tense, techno
beat. Nothing great, but, again, it gets the job done.
*Overall: *To sum it all up, Polarium isn't quite the killer app for
the
DS that Nintendo wanted it to be, but it is still a great game that
you'll play years from now, similar to the say people still play
Tetris.
If you've got a DS, pick this one up, because, in my opinion, its the
best game out there right now (as of May 2005).
* Rating: 8/10*
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