Sudoku Gridmaster

Sudoku Gridmaster is, in a way, both the best and the worst sudoku videogame on the market. It provides the best straightforward, “I just want to play” game of sudoku out there, but at the same time, it’s severely lacking in the options department.

This game has everything a Sudoku enthusiast could possibly want – namely, hundreds upon hundreds of puzzles ranging in difficulty from quite easy, to frustratingly difficult.

It's unfortunate that the handwriting recognition portion of the touch-screen controls is largely broken (thank goodness it's optional!) and the presentation is as bland as can be, featuring only three generic background color choices and music tracks each, but even so, Sudoku Gridmaster offers a ton of content and just enough addictive gameplay to make any sudoku fan smile with glee.

With a fairly drab presentation and a subpar interface, Sudoku Gridmaster is a pretty weak package.

Sudoku Gridmaster can't even figure a creative way of using the second screen, other than duplicating the same exact grid that's interactive on the touch screen.

If 400 puzzles sounds like more Sudoku than you could ever want, much less need, I highly recommend Nintendo's own "Brain Age" as a superior alternative. It includes only 100 puzzles, but the interface is significantly better, and you get all the Brain Age stuff in addition to Sudoku, which is really just a side offering in that game.

With "Brain Age" on the market already, which offers not only a large selection of puzzles, but also more variety of compelling content, there simply is nothing that makes Sudoku Gridmaster stand out as a worthwhile purchase.

The game has poor touch screen recognition (as in when I write 2 the game thinks it's 8) and the presentation is drier than Death Valley.

The package isn't incredibly fancy, but Sudoku Gridmaster offers an easy way for the uninitiated to learn the ways of Sudoku.

If you absolutely must have a Sudoku game for your Nintendo DS, I'd recommend buying a copy of "Brain Age," even if it only contains one hundred puzzles. Sudoku Gridmaster is a decent game, but its problems outweigh any positives it offers.

There's no denying that Sudoku Gridmaster is a somewhat boring release, but its very clear in what it is and what it is attempting to accomplish, and I feel it accomplishes it quite well. I think it's a better Sudoku experience than what's included in "Brain Age", but that probably only really matters to those that are really into the puzzle.

Even with a budget price, Gridmaster falls short of delivering basic expectations that sudokuholics (and even novice players) have for an electronic game of numbered crosswords.