Polarium is a game that gives you innovation that could not be pulled off properly on another system. Unfortunately, it has a few problems that hamper it's gameplay. Graphics wise, Polarium isn't pretty. It's made up mainly of black and white, but seeing as Polarium is a puzzle game, graphics aren't the most important aspect. The obvious factor that seperates good puzzle games from bad puzzle games is the gameplay. Polarium is a mix of good and bad. The good? The fantastic Puzzle mode. You solve puzzles that are built into the game, and they test your brain. You need to flip the tiles so they match with their own colors. Even better, your friends can send you their own puzzles to you. You can also create your own. The Puzzles will last you a very long time and you won't complete them in a hurry, as they get increasingly difficult. However, after a while, you may get bored of the Puzzle mode, and you'll likely try out the "Challenge" mode. Unfortunately, this is is the part of Polarium which is broken. Challenge mode is very similar to tetris. You have to remove the blocks that fall down from the top of the screen, by making all blocks the same color using the stylus. This makes them disappear. However, the problem with this is that the stylus can sometimes be inaccurate and go too far across the blocks. And sometimes when you try to clear the blocks, by tapping on the last block you selected, it doesn't always respond. Apart from this, the Challenge mode is alot of fun, but it is flawed. Like the graphics, sound doesn't make a big appearance in Polarium. The sound is basic, but not bad. Most people will keep the sound on just for background music while they are solving tough puzzles. Others will turn it off because they may find it boring. When moving the stylus across the touch screen, people may be annoyed by the sound it makes. Luckily this can be turned down. There is alot of Value to be found in Polarium. The 100 Puzzles to complete, the ability to trade puzzles with friends and using codes to unlock puzzles make the Puzzle part of the game, the main strength of Polarium. The Challenge mode also offers some Value, especially if you play it against a friend. Overall, Polarium is a fun game. It is very innovative and puts the DS hardware to good use. If you like Puzzles which require more thinking than fast paced action, than Polarium's puzzle section will give you all that. However if you want a faced paced puzzle game that requires more action than thinking, polarium's challenge mode simply doesn't cut it.
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