DSiWare Review Animal Puzzle Adventure

REVIEW

I downloaded Nintendo DSi DSiWare Animal Puzzle Adventure earlier this week. It's a puzzle game similar to Robot Rescue where you have to guide the animals to the barn, except that all the animals moves at the same time and you have to use the terrain to change the formation of the animals to avoid falling into a hole.

The graphics are excellent and that is why I buy it. The music, I feel, has been designed to be inoffensive while retaining upbeat feel. It's still distracting, though, especially when trying to think multi step solution. Unfortunately, you cannot turn it off. In the end, I turned down the volume on the device, and while that stops music from distracting me, I also lost the sound effects. Why can't I turn the music off?

Speaking of levels, the later levels are hidden. You have to solve existing puzzles before you can advance. I don't see why the designer feels it should be so, especially since the later levels aren't easy at all. It took me a while to clear 2-7, 2-10, 4-5, 4-10. Who is the designer anyway? There's no credit screen?

In all, a good effort, with only minor blemishes. No hints, no help other than generic comments. Replay option would have been nice to have. Full screen level preview, as well. Level editor, had it been present, would have been terrific!

Here are some help for some of the harder levels:
2-7: When you get to the bottom, line up all the cats in a line of 4, then shape them.
2-10: This was a doozy for me. Ran into false hill. Only when I realize that I need to skip 5 square distance and go from 6 directly to 3, that I solve the problem. Rather counter-intuitive. Pair tops. Pair bottoms. Then slide top pair into top fence. Bring bottom up until they're close. 53 moves.
4-5: Use the fence shape to hold them at opposing sides, then jiggle them (also using the fence) to shape. Took me 359 moves although I'm sure it can be faster.
4-10: Group them into a tight square, then hook them one by one.

Update: I did a more thorough walkthrough on February 2, 2010 blogpost. Included is also my par scores. Check it out!