CRUSH3D

Crush 3D is a fun, but tough puzzler that requires the player to think in convoluted ways to find the solution. Whilst it's not necessarily ground-breaking in visuals or sound, it has more than enough challenge to keep even hardened puzzlers going.

Crush3D is a good remake, living a second life on 3DS by implementing the three-dimensional effect.

Despite its issues, Crush 3D offers a slickly presented, quirky and idiosyncratic experience that delivers spatial puzzles that will definitely stretch your grey matter. Unfortunately, it can also test your patience as much as your lateral thinking, a factor that isn't helped by an annoyingly up-beat soundtrack. So, while Crush 3D's mechanics are wonderfully illusionary, its biggest trick may be in hiding such an exacting and demanding puzzler underneath the breezy, happy-go-lucky presentation.

Crush3D is a great puzzle game. Difficult and characterized by an excellent level design, it cannot be considered a masterpiece of the genre due to reduced longevity.

A very rewarding puzzle game that might have benefited more from being a downloadable game rather than a retail one.

CRUSH3D is enjoyable, challenging and unique among the 3DS's current library. Its central idea never quite ignites into genius-level design and it sometimes descends into trial and error, but it's worth a look for puzzle fans.

A funny and challenging puzzle-platform, similar to Super Paper Mario and Fez... with just some of the worst graphics ever seen on 3DS.

A game that's ingenious but ultimately a little tedious, this puzzle oddity is a brain-teaser that will boggle your mind at least as long as your patience lasts.

CRUSH3D is packed with great ideas, but sadly they aren't executed that well.

It may tread more carefully around its psychiatric themes, but its puzzles still toy with minds as easily as they play with space.

Impressively original, if still fairly abstruse, platform puzzler that challenges you to think as differently as it does.

Minor issues aside, Crush 3D should provide plenty of fun to anyone who wants a mental workout. [Jan/Feb 2012, p.86]

A great idea in theory but far too fiddly and unapproachable to be truly satisfying. [March 2012, p.97]

It's disappointing to see a title with so much potential fail to deliver on almost all fronts. While Crush3D has plenty of good ideas, and has a great concept on paper, it simply doesn't offer a very compelling experience.

It's still a good puzzle-platformer, although its concept isn't nearly as mind-blowing today as it was in 2007.

The idea of changing from 2D to 3D environments at any time is great, but overall Crush 3D suffers from quite a high difficulty and repetitive puzzles. Nevertheless, it's something unique that it does worth a look.

A fun, yet average puzzler. Only those with persistence to test the grey matter need apply.

Despite the five-year gap between releases, Crush 3D takes a few steps backwards in terms of visual style and presentation. Other than a rather limited and lacklustre selection of new levels and StreetPass features, it also offers very little in the way of brand new bonus content, making it difficult to recommend to anybody familiar with its PSP counterpart. Despite its shortcomings, however, Crush 3D gets it right where it counts.

CRUSH3D is not only characters that look like the ones of my german schoolbooks, it's also a very good way to relive those horribly solitary moments, standing in front of the blackboard, trying to solve some math problem in front of everybody. It's so difficult that you may get a headache from playing it, trying to use the perspective, and to play with the size of 2D and 3D elements in order to progress in the subconscious of the hero. It's smart level design, no doubt, but the overall art direction isn't really strong, and the difficulty may seem too much too soon. Those who will stick around despite those shortcomings will find true bliss in torturing their brains in order to wrap them up around it.

Crush 3D has intriguing game mechanics and concepts, but the execution of the entire package makes the game feel like more of an overextended tutorial than a complete game.