Dr. Sudoku

The Good
The worse thing about playing sudoku in your local newspaper, or perhaps on those new board games, is the fact that if you make a single mistake - your entire game is shattered. Dr. Sudoku, however, manages to deliver a fun and addictive sudoku game in which mistakes are no longer such a major factor.

I'll start with the "Normal" mode of the game. This is the (in)famous standard sudoku puzzle, in 5 difficulty levels. The first difficulty level is very smooth, as it eases the player into the game better than any other beginner puzzle, which I would like to praise the game for. Another thing that I love about this game is the way that the digits are inserted. I first thought that perhaps it would have an awkward input system which would take ages to do, but I was relieved to discover the game had a small little compact box come up, in which is used for the input of numbers. It was out of the way, and let me play on without it getting in the way of things by removing itself when not needed.

There is also an "Original" mode which comes with it, which seems to be quite promising. Making your own little sudoku puzzle, saving it, and clearing it whenever you like is pretty neat - especially compared to other sudoku variations which try this, but fail because the player may not be good at this sort of thing. This, however, seems to have a little panel to help get the puzzle right.

There is also a "How to play" function, which I have yet to try out, but because sudoku is pretty easy to understand, it may not be necessary. The graphics are pretty smooth, and quite welcoming for players. The audio is groovy also, with a little tune whilst playing which you may find hard not to jiggle to!

The Bad
The only thing that I found lacking was extra features. Sure, its just intended to be sudoku, but is that all there really needs to be? Why not a record of high scores, or perhaps a time trial (which I think would be pretty cool challenge), or maybe the ability to change the music into different songs. And once you've completed the game, its pretty dead-end, with little replay ability (with the exception of the "Original" mode, of course).

The Bottom Line
For sudoku players, this would seem like heaven - portable heaven, at that - which is pretty addictive and, on later stages, challenging. For those just getting into the trend of sudoku, you might want to learn how to play beforehand. The only thing lacking is extra content, but if you want clean and fun sudoku on your portable game system, be sure to pick up this little gift. What's more, for young teenagers, it may give a little push in terms of numerical ability, so its good to play now and then!