Review: Crush3D

Nintendo handhelds have always been the place to go for puzzle games, the genre lending itself well to portable gaming, especially when Nintendo decided to add a touchscreen to its devices. However, mobile gaming has exploded in recent years, allowing for an onslaught of cheap, disposable puzzle games, so the question now is why should anyone pay full price for these kind of games? Crush3D goes a long way to answering this question.

Crush3D is one of the more original puzzle games I’ve played in a long time. Rather than the standard “Professor Layton” type of game, or the puzzlingly popular hidden item games, Crush3D instead plays more like a traditional platformer, the twist coming from the titular ability to “crush” the 3D environments into 2D.

While not as refined as a certain plumbers latest handheld entry, the controls for both the 3D and 2D gameplay in crush perform their duty adequately, with the thumbstick allowing for accurate movement, and the camera being limited to 5 set positions in 3D, disposing of any potential viewing angle issues. This is more than just a control design thought however, as the position of the camera in 3D determines how the level will crush into 2D.

Crushing isn’t just as simple as selecting your angle and pressing a button though. Instead, different surface types need to be considered before the transition. Brick walls will become solid impassable objects (even crushing you against the screen should you be stood in the wrong place during a crush), while clear white blocks will allow you to fall right through them.

Expanding back into the Z-axis is just as complex as well, with all the separate sections of the level moving back to their original 3^rd dimensional position, thus where you stand can transport you to a completely different area. This is crucial in the puzzle solving as jumping alone cannot carry you far enough, instead causing you to position yourself correctly, crush the environment to 2D to bring a far platform onto the same plane, and then expand and allowing it to carry you were you need to be.

Later levels introduce additional hazards such as low gravity glyphs, bugs and movable debris. The low gravity glyphs are basically logos on a certain wall of the level, and are only active while fully viewable in 2D. While active they allow you to jump higher and further, but are often hidden behind something which needs moving out of the way, or require the level to be crushed from a certain area, amplifying the challenge. Bugs are the enemies of the game, and need to be squashed via crushing them against a brick wall, or by rolling one of the movable objects on top of them. The movable objects themselves are mostly used as additional platforms, with a series of 3D and 2D movement required to position them correctly.

Crush3D features 40 levels or multi-dimensional brain benders, but clearing the levels is not where the challenge lies. To complete a level, all that is required is that half the marbles in a level be collected before making your way to exit, but trying to collect all the marbles really forces you to think hard and plan your crushes. As a reward for your hard work you will be rewarded with additional dressing gowns (costume changes), but marbles aren’t the only collectables to watch out for. Each level also contains a trophy and a book, both of which can be truly devious to collect.

Books are found floating in often hard to reach places, but trophies take it a step further requiring a logo similar to the low gravity one to cause it to appear. This means having the level crushed in a certain way just to be able to see it, and then a bit of mental dexterity to figure out how to collect it. These unlock extras such as artwork, and the trophies allow for the levels to be replayed in a new challenge mode which amps the difficulty up considerably. In trophy mode a time limit is applied as well as a limit on the amount of crushes available in your quest to collect everything in the level.

Graphically Crush3D features distinct styles for both its dimensions, with 3D featuring the usual polygons we’re used to on the 3DS, and with 2D featuring a more traditional style reminiscent of the 2D platforms of the 16-bit generation. They’re clean and functional and never get in the way of the gameplay. The 3D effect is also subtle, but overall adds to the experience, giving a sense of depth to the environments that can help plan a crush while surveying the area. The environments themselves start off slightly bland and empty, but eventually gain more colour as the game goes on, but never become memorable. Cutscenes are a static affair, with the dialogue presented by speech bubbles in a comic book manner.

The story itself, while not going to win any awards, does a good job in providing context to the goings on and the writing is often light hearted and did elicit a chuckle or two, never taking itself too seriously but doing enough to make you care a little about pushing on.

Pushing on, however, is the greatest downfall of the game, as playing for extended periods can really cause the repetitive nature of the puzzles to become apparent, and possibly even provide a sense of mental fatigue should you be trying to perfect the levels one after another. However, the relevant shortness of the individual levels lend Crush3D to portable gaming very well. As a game to play in bouts on a bus journey it does its job very well indeed, and should last you a good few journeys.

Overall 7.5/10
While not breaking any boundaries in the platform department, the unique nature of the puzzles in Crush3D make it a very good game, but is held back by a repetitive nature from becoming a must own. For fans of puzzle games with a commute though, it should definitely appear on their radar.

Crush3D is available now for the Nintendo 3DS