Platform: PlayStation Portable

Developer: Sumo Digital

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release Date (NA): March 21, 2006

Genre: Puzzle

Nerd Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed by Nerdberry

Toss your pencil in the trash and designate your daily newspaper budget for a side of hashbrowns or a once-a-week Starbucks cappuccino. Why? Because you now have Go Sudoku, and you no longer need a newspaper. After-all, you really only used it for Sudoku and Beetle Baily. I know you better than you think. Go Sudoku puts the power of 1,000 Sudoku puzzles directly at your fingertips, literally. Granted, you won’t look as hipster-ish holding a PSP at a Starbucks table. But you’ll also be the only one with a seemingly unlimited supply of Sudoku puzzles! Suck my Half-Caff you hipsters!

For those who don’t know, Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines Sudoku as: “A puzzle in which several numbers are to be filled into a 9×9 grid of squares so that every row, every column, and every 3×3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.” Sudoku’s origins come from the Japanese, where the term Sudoku is short for sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru which roughly translates to “the numerals must remain single” (i.e., the digits can occur only once)*. Go Sudoku takes this increasingly number puzzle game and puts it directly into a neatly packages, well-polished, and addicting UMD for your PSP!

Instead of trying to describe how to play Sudoku or any tips for success, we’re here to talk about the specific video game Go Sudoku. This game contains 1,000 puzzles, plus many more via download. There are varying degrees of difficulty for any level of gamer. If you consider yourself an impatient person, then Sudoku might not be for you. At least not until Go Sudoku came out. While the game does not provide any hints or tips, it does have a feature that lets you know if you’ve put a wrong number in the wrong box. This can be considered a good OR a bad thing, depending on how you like to play the game. It’s great for people who lose their patience and would rather take some free help rather than quit the game unfinished. It’s bad for people who want a perfect simulation of original Sudoku games, where you didn’t get freebies! I personally think it sucks, but there are multiple incentives for each game, and one ties directly into this “freebie” help system.

One incentive is a time-goal that you can try to beat. Each puzzle has its own “goal” for time, but it also lists your best time on that puzzle, so you can also focus your efforts on simply beating your old time if the game’s set goal is too steep. For the novice Sudoku gamers, these goals will seem completely unrealistic, but with practice, you really do get a lot better. Another incentive is the “hearts” system which are sort of like “lives.” You start with five hearts, and each time you put a number in the wrong place, it will take away one of your hearts. You can make an unlimited number of mistakes, lose all of your hearts, and still keep playing. But it is very gratifying to know you beat a tough puzzle error-free. There are times when you reach a point where process of elimination just won’t work and you’ll have to guess, but Go Sudoku has a system set up to help you avoid having to guess.

It is common in Sudoku to jot down possible number matches before you wholly commit to them. Go Sudoku has a system for this in which you can tag numbers in a box that you think might fit. You can actually tag all nine digits in one box if you really wanted to, but that would be as useful as drinking a cup of extra strong coffee while you take a fat dump… By pressing circle, you can tag a particular number in a box and come back to it later. After a while of putting numbers in, you’ll be able to come back to it later, eliminate some of your prospective matches, and input the one that works!

Visual presentation is hands-down the best thing about Go Sudoku. There are a variety of backgrounds you can choose from including water, fire, earth and a few others. In some games, the backgrounds are so elaborate that they can be a distracting nuisance. Go Sudoku does not suffer from this problem, as the backgrounds are simple, semi-detailed, and soothing animations. The gameboard itself is not overly complex nor is it overly simplified. It is, well, what it is: A Sudoku board. The visuals aren’t the only shining star in this puzzle game’s arsenal; the music blends in effortlessly while standing out with its masterfully composed architecture.

Multiplayer

The music in Go Sudoku can best be described as calm, relaxing, soothing yoga music. Not really elevator or lounge music, but specifically yoga music. It is exceptionally soft and relaxing, with plenty of subtle highs and lows. My favorite part about the music is that it is neither distracting nor is it the focal point of the game. You will notice it filling the air around you, yet you won’t pay it any attention when you’re getting really involved in a heated Sudoku battle.

Nice particle effects when you complete a line. All the joy and wonders of SUDOKU

While Go Sudoku is a one-trick pony, it performs its one trick exceptionally well as a polished, straight-forward, no-frills puzzle game. The inclusion of multiplayer (with one or two PSP systems) is a welcome addition but hardly makes Go Sudoku a party game. In fact, the versus game is downright boring to play with a friend, and provides zero frantic gameplay. If you want a good multiplayer puzzle game on the go, link up some Game Boys and play Dr. Mario or Kwirk. Go Sudoku is an excellent game for what it is. One of the best things I can say about Go Sudoku is that it doesn’t try to be more than a portable Sudoku game, which is perfect. No matter what I say, you are the judge. At just under $5 for a complete copy, there is virtually no reason to not give Go Sudoku a shot! Oh, and did I mention that Go Sudoku has a training mode? Yeah… You’re upset because you KNOW you have to buy it now.

Nerd Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed by Nerdberry