Art Style: PiCTOBiTS Game by Nintendo Reviewed by Philip Wesley Size: 44 Blocks Save: Battery 1 slot Released: 2009 Works with: DSi, DSi XL, 3DS ESRB Rated: E Quick Opinion: Own! **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: I love experimental games, or games with really neat presentation to them. I also love puzzle games. So, the Art Style series of Puzzle games on the Nintendo DSi Ware service is something that I find very hard to resist. PiCTOBiTS is a "Retro-Styled" game where you match pixels in an effort to make images. The Retro-Styled part of the description got my attention and the cheap price of about 500 points, or rather $5 was also a big factor in my choice to download this title. Was my $5 well spent? Read on to find out! **************************************************************************** Gameplay Description: PiCTOBiTS is a falling block game, except with a little twist. In order to clear the impending blocks, you need to touch the blocks that are already there with the stylus and then place them back on the board in a way that will clear the impending blocks. This is achieved by lining up four or more blocks in various shapes. When you clear blocks, they get sent to the top screen to creature a pixel picture from a classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game. Each level is themed after an NES title like Excitebike, Super Mario Bros., Wrecking Crew, and so forth. You have a limited amount of blocks you can store at any time. If the blocks breach the top of the screen, you lose the game. You can sacrifice the ability to hold blocks to use a POW block. If you use a POW block, gravity kicks in and the bottom few lines disappear. Blocks become stuck when they encounter anything in the screen. You can tap a descending block to make it fall faster, and you collect coins when you clear immovable blocks. The blocks marked with an X are the immovable ones. Clear them to earn coins which can be used to buy back spots, or buy the music from the game. There are 30 levels in the game of varying difficulty and the game play speeds up from time to time. There is also a count down that appears on screen before a nasty scheduled barrage of long blocks. The game is played entirely with the touch screen and requires a fast hand in some of the later levels. It is a pretty fun game, I would describe it as a mix between Meteos, and Quarth with retro Nintendo style to it. Liked: This is a pretty challenging puzzle game with a fairly original concept to it! Hated: Because it is entirely touch based, it is possible to accidentally place the wrong block in the wrong place. Those little mishaps are not the fault of the game, more the fault of the player. However, when that happens, it is infuriating. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: Lots of blocks and bright colors in this game. The blocks are easy to see, although there are some colors later on which are fairly similar to each other. You get used to those pretty quickly. The interface for the game is nice and uncluttered. The whole style of the game is a nice tribute to to pixelized sprites of the NES Era of games. It takes the Retro motif and runs with it. Liked: Everything matches the theme and looks good. Hated: Is that a Light Blue or a White? Damn my eyesight. Oh, it's WHITE not Light Blue. Curse the rotten effects of age! **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: You are going to want to collect coins to unlock the sound test in this game. Every single track is a remix of old NES tunes by Japanese Chiptune band YMCK. The band, YMCK, was started in May of 2003 and the name stands for Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, and BlacK. This is a reference to the CMYK Four Color Printing Model. I have no idea why that is this way. So, they remixed a bunch of NES game music into some sweet remixes. The main goal, in my opinion, was to unlock all that music. Then I can just hit the shuffle button on the Music menu, close my DSi and rock out. You can do that and it is pretty sweet. If you thought the sound track to Scott Pilgrim VS The World was boss, you will dig this music. If you enjoyed 68555 or Bitshifter back in the day, you will dig this music. If you tuned into old school Radio DMG (Back when it was only Game Boy music), than you will dig this music. The music is easily the best part of the game and worth your money by itsself. Liked: Everything. This is pretty sweet. Check out the Legend of Zelda remixes or the intense Bowser remix. Dig Balloon Fight or Excitebike? YES, this game has some music that is so awesome, it's MATH. Hated: NOTHING. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The touch screen controls work rather well, but I would suggest buying this on a Nintendo DSi XL where it is a little easier due to the larger screen. Everything works correctly though and the game concept is pretty original and fun. The music is the biggest incentive in this game and the difficulty of some of the levels may be off putting for some players. You get your money's worth with this title. The presentation is perfectly done as well. It will make you want to go pick up a copy of Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda. It will make you want to track down some of YMCK's albums. The game will eat up some of your time and you will have fun. Liked: Fun game with great atmosphere, music, and easy to use play control. Hated: It gets nasty difficult. **************************************************************************** Improve: Bridge this out into a full fledged cartridge game. Give me an endless mode, multi-player options, online leader boards, and more levels! RIYL: Puzzle games like Tetris, Quarth, Meteos, and so forth. Retro gaming and the awesome chiptune goodness that accompanies it. **************************************************************************** Final Words: DSi Ware had a rough start and PiCTOBiTS was the first MUST HAVE DSi Ware title. It still is and you should probably get it if you are interested in puzzle games. The music is sweet and worth the effort to unlock. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ***** Play Control/Game Design: **** Value: ***** Star Total: 66% Personal Opinion Merit: 14% Final Score: 80% Letter Grade: B ****************************************************************************