Box Front Box Back Member Rating 70.9% (11 votes) Submit Rating: --- 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % Login Database Search Title Console Genre Year Publisher RFG ID#

Console:	Nintendo DS
Region:
Year:	2005
RFG ID #:	U-087-S-00170-A
Part #:	NTR-ASNE-USA
UPC:	045496735234
Developer:	Mitchell Corporation
Publisher:	Nintendo
Rating:	(ESRB)
Genre:	Puzzle
Sub-genre:
Players:	1-2
Controller:	System Controls
Media Format:	DS Card

Add to collection Who is selling this? Who wants this? Who owns this? Submit Info Submit Variation Submit Images

• 129 of 7621 collectors (1.6%) have this game in their collection
• 2 of 7621 collectors (0%) have this game in their wishlist.
• 1 of 7621 collectors (0%) have this game for sale or trade.

This Puzzle game has the player drawing lines on the DS, trying to turn all tiles to either black or white. Hence the name, Polarium.

The Back of the Box reads as follows:

Get in Line! Prepare for brain-busting puzzles and fast-twitch action as you draw lines to flip black and white tiles and make patterns and puzzles disappear!

• Challenge: As patterns relentlessly fall from the top screen, draw lines to reverse their polarity and make them disappear. The more you clear, the faster they come...
• Puzzles: Solve 100 puzzles by drawing a single line, or design your own and trade them via wireless link!
• Versus: Link up wirelessly! Clear lines and use powerups to fill your foe's screen with chaos.

Who didn't love the classic game, Tetris? You'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't enjoy the classic, or one of the many later incarnations. Well, every system needs their incarnation of the classic in some way or another, and for the Nintendo DS the folks at Mitchell Game Studios has created a game that is based largely on the Tetris premise and makes it something that is uniquely their own.

This game that they have concocted is the rather quirky Polarium. If a minimalist was to create a game, this would be the game that they would create. Do you like colors? Well, that is a terrible shame since the only colors you'll be seeing in this game are the lovely colors of black, white, and their variants. Do you like to hear lots of different tunes? Well, there is a lacking in that department as well. Well then, what does the minimalist's game sport then? No color, little music, no eyecandy, how could this game possibly be any good? Perhaps I should examine a little further.

Well, there seems to be more to Polarium than what meets the eye. While everything in the last paragraph is true of the game, there is actually a game packed into the minimalist's game described above. The premise of the main game is that the player plays the game on a grid that resembles a twisted version of a chess board, and the goal of the game is to change the each horiziontal line to either black or white. To help you in this task, the grid is surrounded by a bunch of gray blocks that the player is able to move his stylus upon without changing the color of those blocks. Also, rather than making the entire puzzle grid change to being one color or another, only the horiziontal lines in the grid has to be a corresponding color. That means that the player is able to clear a level by having a grid of alternating colors.

But how does this actually translate into gameplay?

Let's talk about the first mode of play, the Puzzle mode. It is in this mode where the player must, in a single stroke of the stylus, change all the blocks in each line to one color or another. I bet you think it sounds easy, right? Well, you would be wrong. After you finish the 10 warm-up levels, you are faced with another 90 levels (a total of 100 levels for those who can't add) that will require your cunning and intellect. Eventually you'll be wondering how the hell they did that. It'll be a frustrating type of fun, I guarantee it. Sure, on occasion you may find yourself throwing the DS across the room into a concrete wall in frustation; feeling that you are stupid. Don't be discouraged though, eventually you'll figure it out, and you'll feel smarter for it. If you find yourself completely in a bind, the game also allows you to use hints. Over time, if set the game will reveal the starting point and the ending point for a solution to the puzzle. However remember that it is just that-- a solution. There are many solutions to be had for each puzzle. Another set of hints allows you to see your previous movements across the playing field, so that you are able to plan your next attack.

Then there also is a second mode you can play. Imagine the puzzle mode combined with Tetris What you come up with is the extremely frantic Challenge Mode. In this mode you must try to clear as many lines as you possibly can while more and more randomly colored black and white blocks fall. If the blocks cross the red line, you lose. This mode requires you to be very observant of the upcoming, and make your strokes accordingly. Your ability to clear as many lines at one will determine whether you receieve either a high score or a low score. If challenge mode sounds hard, that is because it is. But don't fret! There is a practice mode specifically tailored for challenge mode practice. Practice mode pretty much is challenge mode, only if you cross the red line nothing happens and no additional randomly colored lines fall. In time, you could be an ace with practice.

The game also features a fun multiplayer game that unfortunately requires a cart for each ds to play. The versus mode is set up where the first person to clear all the blocks on the screen is the victor. There is a catch though. For every line that you clear that line appears on your opponent's screen, and vice-versa. Additionally, there are several powerups that will reek havoc on your opponent as well. This leads to some frantic, line clearing fun. If you only have one cart that is quite unfortunate, as the verus mode is only playable through the multicart setting. But, you could let your friend download the demo of Polarium with the first ten levels of the game. I bet he'd have loads of fun playing that while you play the real game!

Polarium is an interesting game. In this day and age you don't see many developers taking a minimalist approach. It is this approach that makes the game stand out. However though, this game could have been better. Single cart versus mode would have been extremely nice, and hearing the same soothing song over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and... (did I get the point across?) Makes you just want to pull all you hair out. Don't get me wrong, Polarium is a fun puzzle game. It is just that there are little things that could have been done that would have made this game much more enjoyable. Don't expect Halo if you buy this game, and you'll find it to be rather enjoyable. But, if you find yourself needing graphics and boobs, then this isn't for you. Go somewhere else to find those.

Console	Reg.	Type	Title	Publisher	Year	Genre
Nintendo DS		S	Chokkan Hitofude	Nintendo	2004	Puzzle
Nintendo DS		S	Polarium	Nintendo	2005	Puzzle
Nintendo DS		S	Polarium	Nintendo	2005	Puzzle

Console	Reg.	Type	Title	Publisher	Year	Genre
Nintendo NES		S	Tetris	Nintendo	1989	Puzzle