Zenses Ocean Hands-On

Plenty of games have been known to put players to sleep, but it's rarely a positive distinction. Developer Shin'en Multimedia might not be going that far with its upcoming puzzle game Zenses Ocean, but it is aiming for a relaxing atmosphere intended to help you calm down at the end of a long day. Although Zenses Ocean is targeted at the casual female gamer, we swallowed our manly pride to spend some time with it at last week's Nintendo Media Summit.

If you’ve got a phobia of sharks, there’s always Zenses Rain Forest. If you’ve also got a phobia of poisonous frogs, you’re out of luck.

Zenses Ocean features six types of puzzles. The puzzles we solved are currently operating under the tentative titles hot spot, turtle turn, shell twirl, and pearl dive. Hot spot bears a more-than-passing visual resemblance to such undersea games/art projects as Electroplankton and flOw. When you see a dismembered organism floating on the screen, it's your job is to twist the scattered limbs and antennae so they're facing the right direction. Then you snap them into place. Turtle turn presents a pattern of light and dark turtle shells to which you have to match your collection of all-light shells. The color is adjusted by selecting a shell, which turns it and all adjacent shells an opposite color. Shell twirl shows a series of concentric, rotating rings made up of shell outlines. You take a series of shells that pop up one at a time and try to place them in the empty spaces of matching shapes. Finally, pearl dive throws a collection of pearls on your screen and has you make triangles out of like-colored ones.

If these puzzles sound simple, it's because they are simple. A game intended to soothe and relax will not have you stressing out over a solution. However, there is an intensity gauge that can be adjusted prior to each game to sway the difficulty in your direction of choosing. This affects such elements as the number of objects onscreen and the amount of time you have to solve the puzzles.

Visually, Zenses features a sparse interface and a series of ocean backdrops to complement the onscreen puzzle elements. You see whirlpools, a white sandy beach, starfish at the bottom of the sea, and rolling waves--all of which feel like they could be used as the default desktop screensavers included with a brand new PC. Then there's the audio, which Shin'en is counting on to work you into a Zen-like trance just like the puzzles themselves. You'll hear mellow tunes using plenty of slow synth chords, shimmering sparkles, and general new age ambience. Those who find themselves enjoying the game's soundtrack will be able to download the songs for free from publisher Game Factory's Web site.

When it's released, Zenses Ocean will be paired alongside another version called Zenses Rain Forest. The difference between the two, as the titles suggest, is the setting of the visual themes. You can expect to see both games released for the DS in October.