The Game Factory showed off its upcoming DS puzzler, Zenses: Ocean, and the Nintendo Media Summit. This publisher has made a business out of licensed titles -- Bratz, Garfield, Build-A-Bear Workshop -- but is trying to break into original games with Zenses.Pitched as a relaxing, almost trance-inducing ride -- some bundles of the game will include earphones to play back its mellow soundtrack -- I found few of its six game modes that didn't feel repetitive. Especially at a $30 price, I hope that the game gets tweaked or the price drops before its October, 2008 release.My favorite game type lined up a series of shapes on a grid, and I matched two, adjacent like-blocks to remove them both. After they disappeared, the pieces advanced in the same way type flows across the page, including jumps to the next row after a return. I had to carefully plan my attack so I didn't get stuck with unmatchable blocks at the end. It's a good concept, but it's been done in other games.
A connect-the-dots game seemed more unique, and I have high hopes for its concept. I had to create triangles by connecting three pearls among a jumble of them on-screen. But rules prevent a line through another pearl, and all three points have to share the same color. If I captured other pearls inside the triangle, I earned more turns. If not, I slowly ran out of moves until I lost. I liked the idea but had a hard time telling similar pearl colors -- like gray and white -- apart. Hopefully the game will be updated to allow more distinct colors.
A Lights-Out-style game stood above the remaining, bland titles I sampled, but it's another concept that's been done enough. Otherwise, players get a memory game and a couple shape-matching challenges that weren't too fun.
Hopefully Zenses: Ocean will get a few tweaks before its release, especially to the triangle-drawing game. (A different version, Zenses: Rainforest will ship with its own games at the same time.) I saw glimmers of potential in the version I played, but as a puzzle fan, I think it missed both quality and quantity.
