GoNintendo Impressions - DS 'Game of Summit' - Crosswords DS

Crosswords DS…I need you now. You were announced back at E3, and then you disappeared. Just recently, you let us see a couple more of your screens. All this time, I had wondered why you were so shy. Now I know why…you were busy working on being one of the most addictive DS games to date. Guys, if you are into crosswords, this will be a must-have title. I made a point to talk to multiple people at the summit to see what they thought of Crosswords DS. Every single person I talked to came away very surprised with the title, and wanted to know why Nintendo was keeping things so quiet for so long. All I know is that they better start revving up the hype machine. This is their next casual and core hit. The hardest part of the summit actually had to do with Crosswords DS. My flight home absolutely sucked…all because I didn’t have this game to pass the time.

I don’t think I need to explain to you guys how Crosswords DS works. It’s a collection of easy, medium, and hard crossword puzzles…all of various sizes. You go through, you read hints, and you write down your answers. That’s about all there is to it! You read your hint, then you zoom in on the first block of the word. As you write a letter, the screen will scroll down to the next block for that word. You’ll go all the way down the tiles until you have put in the full word. You can turn on hints that will help you get the answer, or you can even have letters turn red if you are spelling an incorrect answer. Those features are nice…but they are for cheaters! I opted for the classic way…no hints of tips. It made for a much more rewarding experience. Let me tell you…those hard puzzles were really, really hard! I am talking NYT Crosswords hard!

If crosswords aren’t enough to keep you happy, you can partake in some anagrams or word searches. Yeah, jsut because it’s called Crosswords DS doesn’t mean that it’s a one trick pony. Once again, you can choose your difficulty and have at any number of hundreds of puzzles. Word searches have themes, such as animals, foods, and so on. Anagrams give you blanks spaces for all the words that you can make. You touch/drag titles into spots to spell out a word, and then the game will mark down the words you have made. Both of these games are just as addictive as the crosswords.

Crosswords DS offers dead simple gameplay, but the challenge of the puzzles will keep you busy for a very, very long time. I am really hoping that DLC is offered in this game…because new puzzles would be great. As it is now, this game will be an absolute must-have for your collection. If you travel a lot and own a DS, you would be certifiable if you didn’t purchase this title. This game is the ultimate time killer.