Polarium is a puzzle game. Developed by Nintendo, it’s not quite Tetris but at least it manages to do something different. The basic of objective is to complete lines of tiles, that are coloured either black or white. To do this, players use the touch screen to flip the desired tile and help in the completion of horizontal lines. However, flipping tiles one-by-one is a pain, so the game has a much handier and quicker mechanism for line constructing.
The game encourages you to make a path for you tile flipping. By making a path that goes over several tiles, they will all be flipped at once. To do this, the player must touch one tile and then they can either drag a path in the desired direction or touch a tile that is along the path that they wish to go. A cube will appear over the top of the last tile selected. When the player taps the cube, this will complete the path and all covered tiles will be flipped. With the path, you can go back by tapping on a tile further pack and you cannot cross the path. You can’t go diagonally either.
Not much of a hint
To help with path drawing and line constructing, an outside perimeter has been cleverly built and allows players to construct paths across it. The grey-coloured tiles don’t flip over but are extremely handy, especially when constructing very long paths. It is also necessary in some cases to use this outside perimeter. Without it, this game would’ve have petered into nothingness, as there would be no room for any creative thinking.
Each time you start up the game, you’ve got access to a very handy tutorial. It goes through briefly but concisely on the system intrinsics. It can be accessed virtually any time, whenever a player needs a touch up on skills or knowledge. It lasts a couple of minutes but it’s well worth sitting through more than once.
This makes up the essence for the three game modes: Challenge, Puzzle and Wireless. Challenge is a Tetris-style game but where in Tetris you were dropped small quadrangles, Polarium drops huge blocks that fill be majority of the bottom DS screen. You then use your skills and mind to eliminate this block as quickly as possible to before the next block drops. At first is can be quite tricky as the blocks can fill in a manner of seconds. As you play more and more, it gets much more intuitive and much more manageable but it will eventually boil down to a memory game as the arrangements that you’ll encounter will become very repetitive.
My personal favourite mode was the Puzzle mode. You have no time limit and there are about 100 arrangements that need to be cleared. You start off with a selection of thirty and the rest are unlocked as you complete all that are available to you. As simple as this may seem, you are only allowed to draw one path. And as easy as that sounds and may seem (especially are the first two-dozen puzzles) it is not. There are some very clever arrangements that have both one way of being completed and multiple ways. As the difficulty increases, so does the addictiveness and players may soon find that a lot of time has passed so that they may complete one puzzle. Aside from the 100 puzzles you can do, there are also plenty that you can create and attempt to figure on your own and see how friends to. Creating is a little cumbersome but can provide some more longevity to the game.
Ooh, colour
The Wireless mode is a multiplayer mode where you need to clear your lines faster than your opponent. It can be played over both single and multi-cart and can extend the life of the game for a bit more than with just the single player modes. Unfortunately, that’s all the game really has to offer. Sure, the puzzle mode is meaty enough to keep you going for a sometime, the replay value is good and this is all enhanced by some good creation fun. The Challenge mode needed a bit more thought, because it’s got a steep playing curve and will eventually boil down to memory game, it doesn’t have the holding power of the Puzzle mode. Regardless, both modes are great in short increments of time and the Puzzle mode can kill a lot of time.
We’ve heard of a minimalist presentation but this is a bit ridiculous. Virtually the entire game is in black and white with a few smidgens of colour here and there. As a puzzle game, it is something that isn’t too difficult to over look but it really is bare-boned. As much as it suits the game and there is some style in the menus, it is almost a deterrent rather than a strength. Sound-wise, other than clicking and some muted music, there is nothing here to listen to.
Overall, Polarium is a good game but it’s going to be forced to dwell in the shadows of much superior titles, especially Meteos, as it’s genre has been trumped. However, a lot of the redeeming value is diminished by the fact that the Challenge mode is weak and it is a puzzle game that will only appeal for a finite amount of time. Despite being reasonable in both short and long time increments, a puzzle game that doesn’t potentially last you forever will always fall behind. Still, for a bargain price, a change of pace will never hurt too much.
This review is brought to you courtesy of Infinite Gameplay, with unlimited game rentals starting from $19.95 a month.
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