An entertaining, if a little underwhelming puzzle game.
The main two modes are Challenge Mode and Puzzle Mode. Puzzle mode gives you ONE stroke to solve each puzzle. There are 100 puzzles that get gradually more difficult. To be honest, I haven't finished them all. I'm on 56. The later puzzles go beyond straining your brain. They are there to frustrate you, and trust me, you will be frustrated. In Challenge Mode, blocks continuously fall, and it's your job to get rid of them. As stated by many people, Challenge Mode is a bit underwhelming. Gameplay never really switches up enough for you to continue playing, and if you're like me, you'll eventually get bored and end up losing on purpose. Then again, you'll likely lose within the first couple minutes when you first start playing.
The game also features Versus mode, where you compete against others to complete puzzles. It's entertaining, but I never really bothered with it, because it didn't really interest me. It didn't feel like a game that needed a multiplayer mode, and to me, it felt a bit tacked on.
The best part is the ability to create your own color palettes. If you're smart enough, you can create one heck of a puzzle. I never got to make a cool puzzle, but I made a couple complex ones, that kept my friends wondering what to do next.
The main issue with the game is the lack of value. Puzzle games are supposed to be addicting, but Polarium never really kept me coming back. It was more a game that I'd occasionally pick up and play when I'm bored with my other DS games. It had a lot of interesting ideas, and the puzzles really test your brain, but after a while you begin to tire of it. However, it's $5 now. 5... dollars. If you're looking for some quick and cheap puzzle fun, you can't go wrong, just don't be expecting Lumines or Tetris.