While the insatiable grid fillers are barely recovering from the release of Picross S4, Score-chan and his sidekick Gig return in a new adventure, a year after the unpronounceable Piczle Lines DX + α. Is the mix of genres always as successful? Well, we are not going to lie, if we give you the answer right away, the following paragraphs would not have much reason to be, so we will have to make a little effort.
Life is definitely not easy for poor Score-chan: hardly senpai of professor has had time to recapitulate the events of the previous episode that a new misfortune is taking place on poor Earth. This time, an old namoure skin decided to lick in the middle of nature a very decided thing to transform everything into … Picross, of course.
Another rail and I stop
Here is a ready-made text to (re) set off on an adventure, and enchant several hundred more or less complex grids, so that the world will find its shine, in the company of the pair always ready to comment. The world of Piczle Cross Adventure is divided into zones, which will have to be unlocked progressively, by always blackening more boxes, which creates a loop of relatively simple, but fairly effective gameplay. It must be said that in addition to the dozens of puzzles, the game is full of secrets to be discovered, shortcuts to unlock and characters to help, which ultimately gives the impression of really progressing in a quest in good and due form, all the more so as experience accumulates over time, and allows you to tackle a few key Picrosses, thus requiring a certain form of exhaustiveness before advancing in new environments, and, who knows, finish the game 100%.
It must be said that the very small team of Score Studios did not go there with the back of the spoon to make you want to go always further: in addition to the many items accumulate, places to discover, the orange duo highlights with a some mischief through the narration or mocks with humor some of the clichés of the video game. Despite a French translation which sometimes leaves something to be desired (a real problem when the time comes to solve the Sphynx puzzles), writing is often a hit.
got stuck in the corners
But the translation undoubtedly carries out a little too quickly is unfortunately not the only point on which sketches this sympathetic adventure, which would sometimes forget almost the essential. Indeed, if the Picross grids prove to be varied and numerous (with 20×15 more numerous than in Jupiter), their ergonomics are not the finest. Certainly, players will be able to take advantage of many skins, but it remains for example impossible to adjust the speed of movement of the cursor or to configure the keys, a very regrettable oversight. In the same order of idea, the identified and bounded areas see their number almost disappear, making the reading sometimes confusing, and obliging at times to relaunch certain grids because of a mistake for lack of attention to put on this funny choice. And conversely, an area between two others will not be valid until one of the edges is reached, another aberration that is difficult to explain, and which is very painful over time.
Fortunately, the desire to discover the mega-Picross resulting from the accumulation of grids and the many discoveries make you want to hang on, not only to benefit from the comments of Score-chan and Gig, but especially to take advantage of the bonus ofendgame which takes the form of a Game Boy Person game, with technical limitations that we forgive this time without harm. With a little more care, Piczle Cross Adventure easily entered the famous category of Essentials, it's still a shame.
