{"id":557,"date":"2024-05-08T18:39:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T18:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/?p=557"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:48:54","slug":"pikubo-review-a-solid-take-on-3d-picross-but-a-little-slight-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/08\/pikubo-review-a-solid-take-on-3d-picross-but-a-little-slight-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018PiKuBo\u2019 Review \u2013 A Solid Take On \u20183D Picross\u2019, But A Little Slight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Thinking back to when I first got my iPhone, one of the earlier games I bought was a decent little take-off of Nintendo\u2019s 3D Picross<\/em> called Oh! Cube<\/em>. It was implemented fairly well, and I had a nice time going through all of its puzzles. I expected more games along those lines, but just as on consoles, they never really came. Well, here\u2019s one: PiKuBo<\/em> (Free)<\/a>. It\u2019s pretty clear what it\u2019s doing if you\u2019ve played 3D Picross<\/em> before, but the devil as always is in the details. Is it worth trying out? Investigation time!<\/p>\n

\"\"Let\u2019s talk the money stuff first, because that\u2019s how the world works. As you can see, it\u2019s free to download this game. It won\u2019t hassle you with ads or anything. You get the first puzzle pack without paying a cent, which is a nice way to see if you\u2019re into what it\u2019s laying down or not. You get just over thirty puzzles to solve, with some nice tutorials that explain things to new players and will feel excruciatingly long if you already know what you\u2019re doing. At the time of this review, there are two more puzzle packs available as IAP. Each one offers thirty-six additional puzzles to solve. I imagine if the demand is there, the developer will make more packs available. All up, you\u2019re paying a couple of bucks for around a hundred puzzles. Not bad.<\/p>\n

I do have one bone to pick with those puzzle packs, though. The puzzles contained in each follow the same general difficulty curve as the included pack, which means that several are wasted on extremely simple puzzles that you\u2019ll solve in a matter of seconds. Presumably anyone buying these packs has already played the initial set, and I don\u2019t see why we\u2019d want to be going back to the basics again. So many of the puzzles are quick and simple that the whole thing ends up feeling a lot smaller than you\u2019d ideally like. Perhaps future packs can be themed so that those who want easier or harder puzzles can get what they specifically want? Just spit-balling.<\/p>\n

The puzzles run the gamut in terms of difficulty, and I\u2019m generally satisfied with the challenge of the harder puzzles. Moving beyond that, the most important thing about a game like this is in how it controls. Like its 2D counterpart, 3D Picross<\/em> plays best with a stylus, some buttons, and a resistive touch panel. There are always a few challenges when it comes to adapting this kind of game, even to an iPhone. One is in how to handle the swap between marking and breaking cubes. Another is in how to fit larger puzzles on the screen while leaving the cubes big enough to work with. PiKuBo<\/em> approaches this tricky task with some interesting ideas.<\/p>\n

\"\"By default, touching the screen will simply allow you to move the puzzle around. You can pinch and\u2026 de-pinch? Un-pinch? Do the opposite of pinching. That will allow you to zoom in and zoom out on the puzzle. There are some arrows on the side of the screen that allow you to move layer by layer through the puzzle, and that\u2019s a pretty standard way to handle that. Now, if you want to paint or break the blocks, there are buttons for that. You might think you touch the one you want to use and just go to town. Well, kind of. When you tap the button for each action, it will stay active until you tap a cube. After that, there\u2019s a short window where if you keep tapping, you\u2019ll keep performing that action. Once it elapses, the action is de-selected. This mitigates accidents, and I think it\u2019s a good idea even if it is a little annoying at times.<\/p>\n

In general, I think it controls as well as it can. The screen real estate is certainly tight on bigger puzzles, and accidents will certainly happen from time to time, but those are issues with the original 3D Picross games as well. If you make a mistake, you\u2019ll lose a heart. Run out of hearts, and you\u2019ll have to start the puzzle over again. You can also lose by running out of time. When you complete the puzzle, you\u2019ll be given a rating from one to three stars based on how you did. When you finish a set of puzzles it will be marked with a crown so that you know what you\u2019ve already finished.<\/p>\n

In terms of options, you get a selection of four different paint colors to use for the cubes. You can turn the music and sound effects off independently, turn off the cooldown on the paint\/break buttons, use a left-handed mode, and reset your progress in case that\u2019s a thing you want to do. There\u2019s a quick save option here as well, in case you need to stop playing in the middle of a big puzzle to go make some pasta or something. And that\u2019s about it. The graphics get the job done, and the music is nice, chill stuff for solving puzzles to.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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