Review: Prism: Light the Way [Nintendo DS]

Prism: Light the Way is a simple, yet fun puzzle game for the Nintendo DS that stands out from this very crowded field by making excellent use of the DS touchscreen. The game is easy to learn, but can become very difficult at later levels. While it might be a bit much at $30, this title is definitely one to consider picking up when the price inevitably drops.

Graphics: 70/100

Prism: Light the Way features a gameboard with several little aliens of various colors. Some emit light, while others must have light shone on them. They are simple animated sprites that don’t really make great use of the DS’s graphical prowess, but are clear and functional. Large blocky stars cascade behind the game board to reflect the space alien theme. “Simplicity” could really be a main theme in this game.

Sound: 60/100

There is a small catchy soundtrack, but it gets very repetitive after a while. In the small doses you’ll likely play this game, it probably won’t become a problem. There are little blips when you move a piece on the board, but nothing really stands out in this area.

Gameplay: 90/100

Prism’s gameplay has a very simple premise. You must organize your pieces on the board, so the Bulboids (who shine light) can get their beams pointed on the Glowbos. The Glowbos are white, blue, red or yellow, and must have the correct color of light shining on them. To make things interesting, you have mirrors, T-junctions, filter blocks, and prisms to manipulate the light on the board.

The earlier levels mostly require only a single move, and really just prepare you for the more difficult puzzles later in the game. These will often require you to place each piece precisely at the correct location to allow all the Glowbos to have light on them. The DS Stylus is used to perfection here, allowing you to easily slide the pieces to the proper locations, with the ramifications of your movements happening in real time.

Replay: 90/100

There are four different singleplayer modes, with the normal Puzzle mode featuring 120 different puzzles of increasing difficulty. There is a timed mode, a hyper mode (where the Glowbos explode if you don’t get light on them after a while) and an Infinite mode, which generates random game boards. There is also a single-cart multiplayer mode, which allows competitive and co-op play. Competitive play is like the timed mode, where you race the clock. The co-op mode however, is interesting in that it gives only half the board to each player, and you must work together to get the pieces arranged properly.

Prism: Light the Way is a fun puzzle game that is perfect for short periods of play. The simple gameplay and graphics may grow tiresome after a while, but it is still a worthy game for puzzle fans.