Tiny Review: Art Style: PiCOPiCT

Can you believe how many downloadable Art Style games Nintendo and Skip have released lately? Seven in just the past four months! And they haven’t been crap, either!

Art Style: PiCoPICT, released through the DSi Shop last night in Japan, is a fun mix of Picross and Quarth.

Three details that are fab:

Coins. As you clear block forms, you’ll earn coins that will go towards unlocking alternate “Ura” levels, as well as stage music — classic songs from NES titles, remixed by chiptune group YMCK. Also, you can listen to the tracks with the DSi closed.
POW button. When the forms are dropping faster than you can manage, or when you find the puzzle screen littered with immovable blocks, hitting the POW button clears the bottom rows and drops the scattered pieces. After you hit it, though, the amount of blocks you can pick up at a time decreases by one. If you don’t mind giving up your music money, you can buy back a block space by spending five coins.

Fan service. The classic NES sprites, stage music, and even typeface are all ploys to grab the attention and money of nostalgia-bitten nerds, but they also contribute towards PiCOPiCT’s attractive, colorful presentation (even the stage select screens look fantastic), and their integration doesn’t detract from the puzzle game’s addictive mechanics.

Two details that are butt:

Only one gameplay mode. With 30 stages in all (including the 15 Ura levels), though, that single gameplay mode will last you a while. And it’s only 500 Nintendo Points!
No multiplayer.

Score:

So good, I almost forgot that DSiWare still lacks third-party software.

tags / art style / dsi / picopict / review / import / dsiware / skip / ec

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