Lose your marbles playing Nintendo DS puzzler

Jinny Gudmundsen, Gannett News Service

"Magnetica," a new puzzle game for the Nintendo DS, is easy to play but hard to win. by Nintendo

"Magnetica," a new puzzle game for the Nintendo DS, isn't one of those fluffy puzzle games that anyone can play while multitasking through life. This puzzle game requires concentration and logical thinking. Because these puzzles are so demanding, this is not a good game for kids younger than about 12, unless they are precocious.

The concept of "Magnetica" is fairly simple: A chain of colored magnetic marbles moves through a spiral track toward a game-ending vortex. Your goal is to eliminate all the marbles in the chain before they reach the vortex. Using your stylus on the touch screen, you eliminate marbles by "flicking" new marbles from a special launcher hole into the chain to make combinations of three or more same-colored marbles. These linked same-colored marbles will then disappear.

Like-colored marbles have the special property of attraction. This attraction principle creates an interesting dynamic within the puzzle. For example, you can close a gap in the chain of marbles by placing, at one end of the gap, a marble that is of the same color as the one located on the other end of the gap.

mode offers 99 puzzles on four levels of difficulty in a marathon-type setting where chains of marbles just keep coming with no break. The Quest mode has individual timed puzzles that appear on more than 50 different tracks. Solving a puzzle moves you through the quest.

Two people can compete in the versus mode if they have two Nintendo DS units and either one or two software cartridges. When one player successfully makes like-colored marbles disappear, the other player receives ball bearings. These bearings are hard to get rid of. This mode also has quirky attack items, which randomly appear, including clouds and black holes.

Nintendo released this puzzle under its new Touch Generations brand, an attempt to create games that anyone can play. While the mechanics of playing this game using the touch screen are easy, testers found solving the puzzles to be challenging. This level of challenge creates a two-edged sword: The game is good because it pushes the player intellectually, but it is bad because it will turn off players who are looking for a simple diversion. Instead of being a fun puzzle game for the masses, this seems like a niche game for hard-core puzzle lovers.

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Best for ages 12 and up

Nintendo, www.nintendo.com, $29.99, Nintendo DS