Mario's Picross saw the light on the GameBoy in 1995, a puzzle game in which shadows were used to display simple, blocky pictures or images. The series, however, never managed to become successful outside Japan and therefore was kept in the land of the Rising Sun. With the arrival of the DS Nintendo tried again with Picross DS. Then the game did manage to appeal to the masses thanks to the easy controls with the stylus instead of the old controller. Now, three years later, Nintendo brings back the series but with three dimensions instead of one.

The idea behind this game is and remains very simple: you get a large block built from cubes. These have numbers on the front, top and side and depending on the number you know how many blocks need to remain in the final object. The explanation may seem a bit difficult but thanks to a good tutorial and clear visual explanation you can immediately get going with the game. Even younger players will have it easy to experience this title, despite the lack of localisation. Experienced Picross players on the other hand will already be familiar with the well-known concept that doesn't change.

Nothing bad with the controls for the first few hours. The use of the stylus seems to work perfectly. With a swirl you turn the object and with left or up and the D-pad you can color a cube or make it disappear. As you progress, however, the concept starts to show cracks. The puzzles get a lot bigger and this makes it more difficult to get the right camera position. It even works desorientating.

The audio is a typical case of hate-love relation as in so many puzzle games. You can't tune down the volume fast enough, or you'll be humming along happily. Graphically there's little to say: the DS can do better but this game doesn't really require much. The pastel color fits the concept and the little animations that appear when solving puzzles deliver the necessary satisfaction.

With 350 puzzles in different difficulty degrees you get quite a lot of playing time. Through Nintendos Wi-Fi connection you can even download more puzzles. Those that are creative can get going with the built-in puzzle designer. How it's set up is as simple as it is in use. You design an object, choose some colors and labels. Afterwards a push on the create button is enough to finish the rest of the puzzle.