Capsule Review: Hungry Cat Picross
A Color Picross game. The pictures are more interesting than in standard Picross, but at least in this case some puzzles feature colors that are very similar and difficult to tell apart, which is needlessly frustrating. It’s also not always easy to paint the right blocks with your finger on a phone’s touchscreen, which is probably why the puzzles are kept so small. Unfortunately, the result is puzzles that are not very engaging and only take a couple of minutes to finish. After each puzzle you’re given a score of one, two, or three stars based on your completion time - which is a bad idea, since it encourages immediate replay of levels if you don’t hit the goal time on your first play.
There are hundreds of puzzles and some assists - Hint-Number Auto-Check is always on and you have a limited number of “magical brushes” which allow you to reveal a selected column and line like a targeted Hint Roulette. There is also the ability to paint a “hypothesis”, which lets you test color allocations and either reject them or accept them based on how they work out - this can come in handy, but if it leads to a contradiction it’s easy to forget what the original hypothesis you were testing was in the first place.
The game is free with an optional purchase to remove ads. Because the puzzles are so small and quick, it’s fine for killing a bit of time while waiting in line or something, but not great for sitting down with to stretch your brain. Stick to the non-mobile titles for the full Picross experience.
I Stopped Playing When: I lost interest after completing 227 puzzles and some other mobile game became my designated time-killer.
Two Stars: Meh. The game has some merit - it probably held my attention for at least an hour or I came back to it for more than one play session. But there wasn't enough draw for me to stick with it for the long haul.