Polarium

Polarium Description

An addictive puzzler is something of a staple for the Nintendo handheld. The first Game Boy came packaged with killer app Tetris, and available at launch for the Game Boy Advance was the rather splendid Kuru Kuru Kururin. The DS is stoutly re-enacting this fine tradition with Nintendo's Polarium. The title refers to the game's somewhat polarised appearance - shunning the gorgeous N64 palette the DS can display on its twin screens, the game is almost exclusively cast in minimalist black and white. A sort of cross between Othello and Tetris, gameplay revolves around tiles that can be flipped from black to white or vice versa. Like in Tetris, they fall from the top of the screen, and must be flipped into rows of all white or all black with deft flicks of the stylus. Only then will the rows disappear. As well as the main mode, there are 100 puzzles to keep you going, but a custom puzzle feature allows you to create your own, and lay down the gauntlet by sending them to other DS-keteers. And communication-focused as the new console is, that's far from being the only way you can interact with other players. Wireless two player battling is fully supported, and again presumably inspired by Tetris, rows you get rid of reappear on your opponent's screen. Unlike Tetris though, you are kept completely up-to-date on his plight by a display of his screen on the top screen of your DS. This two player mode also features '?' boxes with power-ups to spice it up a little bit more. The proceedings are all accompanied by a quirky and sophisticated electronica soundtrack, which combined with the iPod-clean lines of the game screen leave you in no doubt that Polarium is something for the cultivated and discerning gamer.

Ready...set...SWITCH! - As patterns relentlessly fall from the top screen, draw lines to reverse their polarity and make them disappear. The more you clear, the faster they come...

Use your head! - A hundred single-screen puzzles await! Each can be solved by drawing a single line, so take your time and think them through. Not only that, but you can design your own puzzles and send them to a friend via wireless link!

Cross out your pals! - Play wireless multiplayer matches against a friend; as you clear lines, they'll appear on your opponent's screen, which is visible to you on the upper screen of your DS. Clear lines with question marks on them to get power-ups that make your lines clear faster, block out your foe's border, reverse his or her tiles and more!