Pokémon Picross

i'm spending this review space to brag that i 100%ed this game while spending no money. iirc the math means you have to play for over a year (as in, playing like ~400 days total due to daily challenges) to accomplish it, with imperfect play increasing the length it would take.

it's a bit of a silly task and i probably would've enjoyed the game more if i just shelled out the 20 or so bucks that makes the game give you infinite energy (and hence just making it a normal picross game)... but on the other hand having to limit myself and pay heavy attention to all the levels made it so i actually started to use some of the pokémon powers, even though i initially disliked them as a picross purist. if i payed the $20 early, i never would've used them, since i felt like they made the levels "too easy"–instead, they became a useful resource to avoid mistakes over the slow grind.

did i enjoy my time? sssssure. i suppose it was fun enough. 3ds logs my time as over 100 hours, so this is my most played 3ds game. go figure.

as a note, i will say i don't think it's fair to critique this game much for "microtransactions." it's been a while since i checked, but iirc spending 20 or 30 dollars in the game store means you basically "unlock" the game entirely with infinite energy. so it's more that you can choose to play a slow free to play version, or pay in the game itself and get a full-priced, full version with no waiting. maybe that could be considered sneaky...? idk, i quickly realized how you can just spend a certain amount to make the game a normal picross game. i just didn't do it. because i'm stupid.

Pokémon Picross is a free-to-play puzzle game for the 3DS. If you have played a Picross game before, then you will know exactly how this works. There's a grid (usually 10x10) where the rows and columns are labelled with a number, or a sequence of numbers. A number on it's own such as “2”, means there are two consecutive squares that should be coloured. A sequence such as “2 3” means there are two consecutive squares, followed by a gap (at least one square), then three consecutive squares. There can be longer sequences such as “1 1 1 1 1” too. It plays out like Minesweeper with the way you flag or select blocks; in this case you are flagging it as irrelevant, or selecting relevant blocks.

The Pokémon aspect is that completing a puzzle rewards you with a Pokémon, and they have an associated ability. Abilities include fixing mistakes, temporarily stopping time, automatically filling in several blocks etc. The abilities are to make the puzzles easier, and these should be optional. However, each puzzle has a few targets associated with them which awards you with Picrites. These targets are usually: bring a certain type of Pokémon with you, finish in a certain time, and to use an ability. With bonus Picrites awarded for completing all three at the same time.

This aspect annoyed me since you should be discouraged from using the abilities. Also, since you need the Picrites to progress, you end up replaying levels to get them; and it's not really enjoyable to replay the levels. The fun in the game is to work out the solution, but once you have seen the solution, this gives you an advantage (at the cost of fun) when trying to complete it again. There's nothing stopping you replaying the level straight away; so you can memorise at least part of the solution.

Levels consume Energy which is regenerated over time. Sets of levels are unlocked by a certain amount of Picrites which you can buy, or try and grind out the targets (which is only appropriate for the first few chapters, then you hit a cost that can only be achieved by paying). There's enough fun to be had without paying, but really it just seems like a demo, then you have to pay to see the rest of the game. You can pay a small amount like £5 to get further, but to see it all, you are gonna pay around £30 which I think is a bit too much for this type of game.