Picross Fairytale – nonogram: Red Riding Hood secret is a picross puzzle game with a little red riding hood theme. Despite this, my review is based on the Steam version of this game. Originally this game is a free to play appstore game. The only variation in gameplay between the 2 versions is minimal. Firstly there is the inclusion of steam achievements/trading cards on the steam version. Lastly there is the inclusion of the left/right click mouse controls. Outside of this there are no differences between the steam and app store versions of the game as far as I can find out.
As expected this game does what it says and that being a little red riding hood themed nonogram puzzle game. Whilst the game has a basic story that is about little red riding hood and the lumberjack finding out where the titular characters parents are. I believe the story was an afterthought, as the story isn’t discussed too often in game. The story also does not significantly affect or contribute to the gameplay. Although I can admire that there is some attempt to a story in the game.
With regards to the design of this game I think that it is quite a dull game. The design choices make gameplay particularly unappealing. Since the ambience in the levels is lifeless and unappealing. The levels have a static background. Comparing this to the level selection menu in game the difference is huge. The level selection menu is full of life. There are animations across the menus including birds flying and the fans of windmills spinning. There is even a treasure chest you can open. In comparison the level selection menu is at least providing some entertainment values whilst the in game ambience is dull. I also feel that the music played in the background is basic. Although the soundtrack is decent it is only a few tracks that are on a loop. In the end most people will turn off the music as it gets repetitive after so long.
I also don’t like that this game is poor at providing any visual hints. In particular the game doesn’t provide any help in when you are completing puzzles. This game will not cross out numbers that you have completed. The only clue the game will provide is an orb at the other side of the board. The game will only provide you that hint when all the numbers for that row have been done. For example if a row says 5, 2 and you place 5 tiles together onto the board. The game won’t acknowledge your actions. Even if you place an X after it won’t mark the 5 as being completed at all.
This for many will make the game more difficult. On the larger levels this will make the game more challenging. Since you will be constantly checking the number count to know what you’re doing. It also possible for the game to accept the wrong answer as on one level it asked me to put 2,7 in a 10 space area. I put 7, 2 (as seen above) and it said it was correct. Whether this is an intentional design issue or lack of quality assurance testing, I don’t know but I think that this flaw shouldn’t be in the game.
Technically I also feel that the game is quite poor as it has various issues that are in the game. Some issues will be problematic in game such as anytime you click and drag, any items that have already been placed on the tile are also removed. This game also has some translation issues. I noticed this on the treasure chest that provides micro transactions. On top of the purchase button it says монет (Russian for coins). Thankfully, the translation for the rest of the game is complete.
But one thing I don’t know if it is technical issues or poor design. But I found that this game is ultra forgiving on mistakes as it will not count any mistakes in game. Unless you have asked for the game to check your work which it will tell you all the rows that are correct/wrong. Outside of this the game doesn’t recognise any mistakes you have made.
Even though I think that Picross Fairytale – nonogram: Red Riding Hood secret has some good parts to it. In particular the various puzzles in this game that is relevant to the theme of the game. There are also many flaws that are present in the game. Such as the fact that, even though this is a game that you have to pay money for; this game does have an (unneeded) in game shop that you can buy hints for. In my point of view this game has little to provide. Consequently as a result of this, I feel that Picross Fairytale – nonogram: Red Riding Hood secret isn’t worth playing on. But if you really must play this game, please download it from the app store as it is free on the app store.
