Polarium is ultimately not worth the time or money you spend on it.
The Bad: Only two modes of play; overall presentation is boring; very little lasting appeal.
Polarium is one of those puzzle games that really tries to use the DS's touch screen controls to its full advantage. It does a decent job of creating an interesting puzzle setting, but ultimately its lack of value, production levels, or depth shoot the promising gameplay to heck.
The gameplay is interesting - in one line, you should be able to flip the tiles to make matching horizontal lines. It's a great concept on paper, but it gets old really fast. Because of the lack of modes in Polarium, there's just no lasting value to the game.
The challenge mode has 100 puzzles to tackle, and that's at least interesting, but unless you're easily hooked on Sudoku or crossword puzzles, it's not going to appeal to you. You can create your own puzzles, which is an interesting diversion.
Ultimately, the barebones presentation and the lack of modes really kill any potential Polarium had. More application of the promising gameplay could have created a good game, but as it is, it's no more than mediocre.