Thanks to the nice p🐈eople at the addiction centre, we’re now able to go for long periods without playing Picro⭕ss DS. But like a sozzled party-goer wafting wine under the nose of a reformed alcoholic, Rising Star sent us Colour Cross, to tempt us off the square-filling wagon. In a nutshell, this is Picross meets colour-by-numbers. Grids of increasing size and complexity are unlocked as you reveal blocky images by deducing where each colour should go. The multicoloured approach makes things a little easier after Picross DS’s monochrome puzzles, as it can be easier to guess where blocks should go if logic fails you.

On the flipside, it can be easy to mistake similar shades of grey or green or whatever, particularly if you’re playing on an obscuro-vision old-style DS, leading to frustrating errors. Despite this, the addiction factor is still there. But Colour Cross isn’t a time-guzzling monster like some puzzlers. There are only 150 grids to unlock (half the number in Picr🔴oss DS) and there’s no option to create your own or download more. The only incentive to return once everything’s unlocked is beating your previous times. Sadly for Colour Cross, Picross DS is older and wiser. Well, not wiser; better. But ‘older and better’ isn’t a phrase, is it?

Dec 5, 2008