DS gets marble puzzle madness with Magnetica
You might not be able to fit a square peg into a round hole, but what can you do with a ball?
Apparently you can never have too many puzzle games. And so, with Tetris DS' release looming large (April 21st), as well as Puyo Pop Fever and Polarium Advance on GBA waiting in the wings, Nintendo has unveiled yet another fiendish mind-scrambler, Magnetica.
Magnetica seems a strange name, considering the game is a cross between marbles and pinball. Maybe Pinbles or even Marballs would have been more appropriate?
The gameplay is equally roundabout. As you can see from the images, the action happens on the DS' bottom screen, where waves of coloured marbles roll down various twisted paths towards a hole.
It's up to you to stop them disappearing down it, by firing your own coloured marbles into the pack – using your trusty stylus, of course – to create groups of three or more of the same colour, which are then removed from the screen. The longer the combos, the more points you rack up.
Helping you in your task will be various power-up marbles, which slow down or reverse the movement of the marbles for a while. These are triggered using the one-armed bandit that appears on the DS' top screen.
There will be four modes available: Challenge, Quest, Puzzle, and Versus. The last will be a multiplayer option, although there's no word yet on whether this will support the online Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Time will tell if Nintendo DS owners' appetites for puzzle games can ever be satisfied, but Magnetica will at least appeal to any who have looked longingly at the very similar Zuma on mobile phone and Xbox Live Arcade.
Rolling slowly through Nintendo's game factory, Magnetica is due for a summer release.
