by N1ntendo
Every once in a while, a game developer will try to look outside the box when creating a game. Sometimes, it might be adding RPG elements to a FPS based environment like Fallout 3, other times it might be adding fighting aspects to an RPG, like Shenmue. Playlogic has decided to break the norm when they added murder and mystery to sudoku. Yes, I said sudoku. I bring you Sudoku Ball Detective.
Graphics. Puzzles in Sudoku Ball Detective are executed exactly how it sounds, a ball of sudoku puzzles. The Nintendo DS does a good job with its 3D as you rotate and spin the ball to solve the various sudoku puzzles. As for the murder mystery storyline, scenes are played out in static cut scenes with written text and dialogue to set up each scene and setting for the game.
Control. Using the sudoku ball as a trackball with your stylus, spinning and turning it to the puzzle you want to work on, works fine without any problems. The handwriting recognition in Sudoku Ball Detective is surprisingly, implemented very well. You can write your numbers small, quick, huge, or sloppy and it will still pick up on the number you intended to write just about 99% of the time.
Sound. For the premise of this game, I would have preferred voiced cutscenes to help me get into the murder mystery overall. Unfortunately, to make things worse, there is looping music in both the cutscenes and the game itself will have you running to the options to turn down the music and only keeping the sound effects, which chime in whenever you complete a sudoku of #1-9, or when you are incorrect in some of the other styles of sudoku in this game.
Gameplay. I am not going to get too technical here. Overall, it is just sudoku we are dealing with here. There are 4 variations of sudoku being played in Sudoku Ball Detective that help shape whichever detective work the main character is performing. The first and main piece is where you will unlock evidence for any sudoku squares you complete that have a question mark present. Simple as that. After that is completed, you find yourself analyzing said evidence while being faced with a timer that, when depleted, randomly erases numbers from your sudoku puzzles that you must now rewrite in their respective squares. It sounds frustrating but it really doesn’t distract from the puzzle or make it that much harder. Next, the detective feels the need to break into a house to gather more clues, triggering another type of sudoku puzzle. This one has the player solving one sudoku row of a puzzle with only 4 chances to get the center of the entire puzzle correct, which symbolizing the keyhole he is using the lockpicks on. 4 wrong answers on the center square and you must restart. Finally, the last and most annoying puzzle has to be due to the fact it is making something slow like sudoku, fast paced. Here, the player is pursuing a suspect or escaping a house of a suspect before he is discovered. The puzzles involved here have the players filling in the missing numbers to various sudoku puzzles on the ball as quickly as possible to progress further down a meter to catch the suspect or flee successfully. Every 5-10 seconds the goal gets further away, so beginner sudoku puzzlers beware. This might take a few attempts before you get it right and complete it.
Overall. For most people, you either like or hate Sudoku. Sudoku Ball Detective strives to add a fresh twist on the tried and true “complete this grid of missing numbers to win” formula of Sudoku. There is a classic mode for purists as well but overall it is a good bargain for puzzlers out there wanting their fix and having a little intrigue of a murder mystery on the side.
