Post by Fryguy64 on Mar 20, 2005 11:04:22 GMT -5
I have Polarium and you don't! Haha! Sounds like it's time for another EU Review for the benefit of our American friends.
What were you expecting when you first heard of Polarium? A Tetris-esque puzzler? Well, you will be sorely disappointed. This is not the DS's Tetris (that goes to WarioWare at present). This is a game of two distinct parts (Challenge and Puzzle) but one play method. Play the tutorial because you will need to. Polarium is not as intuitive as Nintendo would have you believe. You WILL need to learn what the game wants you to do.
You are not necessarily trying to change the entire puzzle into either black or white. Instead you must think in terms of horizontal lines, with each line being a single colour before it clears. It could be black-white-black or white-white-white for all it matters, so long as the entire line is a single colour.
The Challenge campaign (Polarium's standard 1-Player mode) is nothing compared to the endless high-scoring of Tetris. Chunks drop down and you must delete them as quickly as possible. In this mode you can draw as many lines as you like, but clearly long lines are preferable. What's most infuriating is that while the cleared lines disappear, you can't start deleting the lines above. Well, you can - but if you try and draw on the blocks then when they eventually drop they will abandon your line further up. You have to start drawing over the disappearing blocks. This could have been made a little more streamlined. Basically, keep deleting lines by rota. You'll come to recognise certain patterns and how to delete them fastest, but it doesn't matter. You will find the tower edging towards the top - and that's when the game starts its "Warning" noise. Once this starts it's almost impossible to stop it... no matter how good you get.
Puzzle mode is where the action is at, and where the fun part of the game really lies. In these you are presented with static pictures, and you have to clear them in a single line. Draw away! There are undoubtedly several ways to complete each puzzle, but as they progress your movements have to become more and more precise. The puzzle generally fall into "one block of colour" and "multiple lines of colour" categories - with the latter ones sprayed with awkward dots. These are the ones that really test your puzzling mettle. For each 10 you complete another 10 become available, so there's plenty of play value here. It's just a shame that this mode outshines the "main" mode so much.
Sadly I've not had the chance to really give multiplayer a go, but you can either go head to head in a Challenge mode style game, or trade your own custom puzzles to each other.
The music is repetitive, but not annoyingly so (you won't be humming it outside your will, like Picross for example). The graphics are very basic but your little golden cube that you drag around the puzzle is nicely animated. While functional it's hard not to see it also as a little bit ugly. A little more style or visual pinach could have made it a more interesting experience.
Overall, this is not the Tetris-beating puzzler we were promised. The Challenge Mode is a bit dire, especially when compared to the Puzzle Mode. Leading to a slightly incoherent package. If it was full price it might not even be worth it - but at a £19.99 price tag it's worth a look if you want something that's not Mr. Driller.
What were you expecting when you first heard of Polarium? A Tetris-esque puzzler? Well, you will be sorely disappointed. This is not the DS's Tetris (that goes to WarioWare at present). This is a game of two distinct parts (Challenge and Puzzle) but one play method. Play the tutorial because you will need to. Polarium is not as intuitive as Nintendo would have you believe. You WILL need to learn what the game wants you to do.
You are not necessarily trying to change the entire puzzle into either black or white. Instead you must think in terms of horizontal lines, with each line being a single colour before it clears. It could be black-white-black or white-white-white for all it matters, so long as the entire line is a single colour.
The Challenge campaign (Polarium's standard 1-Player mode) is nothing compared to the endless high-scoring of Tetris. Chunks drop down and you must delete them as quickly as possible. In this mode you can draw as many lines as you like, but clearly long lines are preferable. What's most infuriating is that while the cleared lines disappear, you can't start deleting the lines above. Well, you can - but if you try and draw on the blocks then when they eventually drop they will abandon your line further up. You have to start drawing over the disappearing blocks. This could have been made a little more streamlined. Basically, keep deleting lines by rota. You'll come to recognise certain patterns and how to delete them fastest, but it doesn't matter. You will find the tower edging towards the top - and that's when the game starts its "Warning" noise. Once this starts it's almost impossible to stop it... no matter how good you get.
Puzzle mode is where the action is at, and where the fun part of the game really lies. In these you are presented with static pictures, and you have to clear them in a single line. Draw away! There are undoubtedly several ways to complete each puzzle, but as they progress your movements have to become more and more precise. The puzzle generally fall into "one block of colour" and "multiple lines of colour" categories - with the latter ones sprayed with awkward dots. These are the ones that really test your puzzling mettle. For each 10 you complete another 10 become available, so there's plenty of play value here. It's just a shame that this mode outshines the "main" mode so much.
Sadly I've not had the chance to really give multiplayer a go, but you can either go head to head in a Challenge mode style game, or trade your own custom puzzles to each other.
The music is repetitive, but not annoyingly so (you won't be humming it outside your will, like Picross for example). The graphics are very basic but your little golden cube that you drag around the puzzle is nicely animated. While functional it's hard not to see it also as a little bit ugly. A little more style or visual pinach could have made it a more interesting experience.
Overall, this is not the Tetris-beating puzzler we were promised. The Challenge Mode is a bit dire, especially when compared to the Puzzle Mode. Leading to a slightly incoherent package. If it was full price it might not even be worth it - but at a £19.99 price tag it's worth a look if you want something that's not Mr. Driller.
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