Sumico (Nintendo 3DS) Review

When getting down to it, Sumico seems like such a simple game on paper. At the start of each level a selection of six-sided tiles fall down to the player's screen and then there is the task of reaching a set of target numbers via adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing the tiles together. It sounds less like a proper 'game' and more like something a maths teacher might make up to try and get distracted students to finally listen up and do their homework. However, this is proof of why ideas on paper are not always right in reality, because the reality is very different.

Sumico manages to distinguish itself not because of some contrived mechanic, but rather because of how simple it is in theory, yet difficult in practice. For example, while one goal might be to reach the target number of, say, 7 quickly, finding a tile series of '6+1' isn't always the answer. Finding a tile series of '7+3-5+2-6+2+4' would yield far more points and, as a result, be far more important to clearing the stage. However, the number of tiles with a maths function are limited and using up a lot of them, while potentially giving a nice score, might also cost the entire level just because all of the functions on the right side of the map were used up and the only remaining addition or subtraction tiles are on the left side, which doesn't have the proper numbers to reach the total by a long shot, requiring a balance between the long and short number chains.

The game does feature a number of varied puzzles, some of which can be outright creative and that make full use of its mechanics. A puzzle of having two tiles with +3 and -3 might be easy on paper, but the only tiles are 1s, then the next set is a +6 and -6, then a +9 and -9, meaning careful control of the growing tile sums is key or else the nice -8 tile will end up in some strange corner, surrounded without a maths function tile.

This isn't to say the game is perfect by any means, though. While it adds in the various functions over time and does feature some creative puzzles, it never really grows beyond that. After playing the first few levels available, essentially, this means the entire game will have been played through and through, with only a few variations, and there are still 82 levels of this to go. Also, if the player is not inclined towards maths then this game will be little more than an exercise in frustration, and just as appealing as Professor Kageyama's Maths Training was on Nintendo DS. While it is highly doubtful anyone with an aversion towards maths would purchase this anyway, it is something to take notice of.