Neves/Tangram Mania - DS

[The Glider]

I've been enjoying this puzzle game since it came out in the US last year & I've just noticed that it's due in Europe on 8th February priced ?24.99.

Neves is what's called a silhouette shadow puzzle game & as the manual explains...

The object of this puzzle game is to match all 7 pieces to the silhouette design. You can move, rotate, & flip the 7 puzzle pieces to complete each puzzle.

Although it might not set the gaming world alight, I'm finding it incredibly addictive & there's 542 different puzzles, with three different game modes. Silhouettes is the basic mode where you can clear each puzzle in your own time & there's Time Pressure (3 minutes to complete each puzzle) & Steps (complete each puzzle in 7 moves). There's a clip on the official site showing how the game's played. It looks basic but it really is a fun little title to play in short bursts.

[toythatkills]

Weird one, this. I think you're definately right about short bursts though! I found it very difficult not to get bored after a couple of puzzles because essentially every single one is identical. They don't feel different in the same way that a picross/nurikabe/slitherlink feels different every time you play one. It leaves me with a feeling of solved one, solved 'em all, tbh.

They're mostly far too easy also. There's the odd exception which has you puzzling for a few minutes but generally there's some really obvious placements to begin with, and then after that it's obvious where the ones you've got left need to go.

In short bursts, it's alright, certainly, but there are much worthier puzzle games (I'm sure you know that much more than me!)

[The Glider]

Yep, the puzzles are incredibly similar, so a quick 5 minutes play every other day seems the best way to approach the game. It might be of interest to the younger player, so I'll lend the game to my niece & see what she thinks of it.

[merf]

this is perfect train/bus material, i can always flip it on for a quick go but its purely a passing a bit of time game rather than one that grabs you and makes you compelled to actually finish it.

very nicely programmed though with good UI and nice clean presentation.

in many ways it represents the new kind of software that is shifting such huge amounts of DSs