Puzzle Labyrinth (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Dungeon crawler, puzzle and room escape games aren't exactly scarce in the 3DS library. The first interesting aspect of Puzzle Labyrinth, though, is the blending of those three genres in one game. That blending is the whole game: the player has to confront sixty stages where the protagonist is trapped in a room, and has to use brains to get out.

The first stages are entertaining enough because of these mechanics, which are fairly fun: following the instructions, finding one or two items exploring the small dungeon, uncovering the trick of using them and exiting the level. Pretty basic and approachable, while being rewarding enough. The presentation is nice, with good-looking - but very few - character models, the interface is intuitive, and a catchy track for the levels will have the player excited while he or she's deciphering the stage's answer.

Sadly, those are the only interesting aspects of the game. After the first stages, the puzzles start to become very strange and capricious. The items have weird uses and the objectives are baseless. Why would giving a recently cooked fish to a gargoyle open a door? Why are dragons sometimes nice and sometimes attack the character? There're too many questions like these, giving the feeling that the puzzles were designed by a child with too much imagination.

After playing a while, the presentation becomes extremely repetitive and unappealing. The character models are just palette swaps, the environment is always exactly the same, and the catchy song of the levels slowly turns into an annoying track. Thus, after some levels passed, the - at best - decent presentation, which had the task of keeping the player interested in the game - besides its own determination - considering the lack of plot, fades into a monotonous and unpleasant surrounding.

Correspondingly, the gameplay starts, at the same time, to become unpredictable and frustrating because of the aforementioned lack of intuitive direction, which builds an overall sensation of instability. The hints scattered on the stages don't do their basic job of helping, either, making the acceptable experience to decay furiously fast.

All in all, Puzzle Labyrinth fails without question in the execution of a good idea. Its lack of a lasting appealing presentation, plot, properly directed puzzles, and good level design, makes its charm vanish quickly.