Ever since the DS and sudoku both became popular, Nintendo's handheld has been flooded with countless sudoku games. Most of them are completely forgettable and incredibly generic, only adding to the number of DS games you'll be able to find in the bargain bin at stores like Gamestop.
The good news is that Zoonami and Eidos' new sudoku game, Zendoku, isn't like these other games. In fact, it's well ahead of other sudoku titles currently available on the DS, even with some of the game's flaws.
Zendoku features several new features to the sudoku game genre. The game includes both a classic sudoku mode with timed and untimed puzzles and the new Zendoku mode. In Zendoku mode, there are training modes, a tied puzzle mode, and quest/story mode, which makes up the main part of the game. Rather than using numbers, Zendoku mode substitutes in pictures/symbols, keeping all of the other traditional rules of sudoku.
Additionally, Zendoku mode features attacks in both quest mode and two-player battles. These attacks are launched by filling in a square, row or column or by placing all nine instances of a symbol on the board. By completing two or more of these triggers at once, you can send stronger attacks at your opponent.
Zendoku plays like just about any other sudoku game on the DS: use the stylus to put the right numbers or symbols in the right spot to complete the sudoku puzzle. Where game play differs is when attacks come into play. The attacks, which can be countered by completing a row or column with the character’s lucky symbol, put a stop to the sudoku game and force players to partake in a minigame. Depending on how many rows, columns and/or squares were cleared by the opponent, the minigame can either be easy and short or tedious and long. Six different types of minigames await, from ones where you have to block attacks to blowing away enemies or wiping the screen clear of coins.
The game makes extensive use of the bottom touch screen, which is where the actual sudoku grid and minigames take place. As far as actually playing sudoku with the touch screen goes, it's the same as any other sudoku game out there. The difference comes in the minigames, which force you to tap flying fists and kicks to defend yourself and clear the screen of items blocking play. Some of these items require you to blow into the microphone in order to clear them. The only real problem is that the game doesn't always catch your taps, especially when it comes to blocking multiple blows at the same time. This can be a bit frustrating, since you have to tap a certain number of hits in a row to clear the minigame.
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