Game discussion on "Puzzle Series Vol. 5: Slitherlink" for Nintendo DS
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Slitherlink is an ingenious puzzle game from Japan and has replaced Picross and Puzzle Quest as my current puzzle addiction of choice.
Here's how it works:
The goal is to create one interconnected line. There's a grid with a bunch of numbers, 0-3 in various squares. Some squares have no number in them. Each number represents the number of edges of that square that are part of the line. So a 3 means only one edge is not part of the line, while a 0 means none of the edges are. A 3 next to a 0 tells you which of the 3 edges should be filled in.
Each puzzle is quasi-timed - the time counts up. You get awarded stars at the end of each puzzle; completing the puzzle more quickly gets you more stars. As far as I can tell the stars don't do much, so slow puzzle solvers shouldn't worry. The caveat is that I don't read Japanese so it's not clear to me if the stars unlock later puzzles or not. I haven't had much trouble getting a lot of stars, though, and I'm certainly not the best puzzler around.
Out of this simple structure a ton of lovely puzzles are created. There's 4 levels of difficulty; the lowest gives you a nice intro and helps you learn some intro patterns. Some of the second-level puzzles start to get quite hard, and at the 3rd level I find myself pausing for extended periods of time as I try to work through permutations. The boards get bigger also. For awhile the basic patterns the game gives you are enough to go by. As the boards get harder and harder I find myself constantly searching for new patterns to help with the increased difficulty. As a result, there's a real sense of achievement and growth I get from these puzzles.
The presentation is spot-on - simply tap each line to fill it in. You can put little 'x' symbols where you know lines can't be. You can put little dashed blue or red lines to indicate where lines might or might not be. On the bigger boards, there's an arrow on the appropriate side of the screen; touching the arrow will scroll the board. The top screen has a view of the board as a whole and where you are located on it. Overall, everything is incredibly well laid-out and there has clearly been thought put into what will be most convenient for the player. The music and sound, while not complex, are actually very pleasant to listen to and I often leave the volume on while playing.
The game is quite English-friendly; 5 minutes worth of experimentation will give you everything you need to play all the puzzles available.
I highly recommend checking this little game out. Some useful links:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slitherlink
A better review with screenshots: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=74357
