Travel Games for Dummies is a
compilation of three popular puzzle type games, Sudoku, Crosswords, and
Solitaire. Each of these games is similar in that they can be played with a
single player, but different in the type of games they are. Sudoku is a number
puzzle game, Crosswords is a word game, and Solitaire is a collection of various
card games.
There are three modes of play for
each game: How-To, Practice and Play. Players can learn the rules and some
interesting facts about each game with How-To, and then move on to the Practice
mode for practice. If confident in their skills, players can choose the Play
mode and get serious.
The How-To rules are designed
perfectly for this type of portable game. They are informative, yet short enough
to read quickly and get the gist of it all. Practice mode is always useful for
playing with no penalties.
Moving around the menus in each game
is easy and intuitive for the most part. The most complicated menus are in
Sudoku, but that is because of the ability to use pencil marks along with final
numbers. Players can use their stylus to "draw" the number they want to use and
bypass one step of the menus, but this option isn’t always as accurate as should
be.
Crosswords is designed well, but has
a default option of not having the grid numbers displayed. If having the grid
numbers displayed is desired, players will have to choose that option. Solitaire
is fun, and has the usual popular games, but the obvious drawback is that the
card numbers are small and hard to see.
There are a lot of puzzles when
taken as a whole, but Crosswords only has 100 puzzles, with many of them on the
Easy level. There should be more Crosswords, and definitely more difficult ones
and less easy ones.
I’ve played several different
solitaire and sudoku games on the DS the last several years, and it is hard to
distinguish amongst them in play mechanics, because the basic game formats are
the same. The main difference is in the menu design and the number of options
available to players. Travel Games for Dummies has a good menu design, and there
are lots of helpful option choices for each game, especially with Sudoku. I also
like the How-To mode, as it has strategy tips and other helpful hints, besides
just the rules.
If anyone is looking for a fun,
relaxing puzzle game for portable entertainment, I recommend Travel Games for
Dummies. There is a good amount of content when considering the total amount of
puzzles, and they are fun to play.
Gameplay: 7.5
With three different puzzle games, this game has a lot of variety to offer.
There are a lot of puzzles when considering the entire game, but there aren’t
very many Crosswords and too many of them are of the easy difficulty level. The
interface is intuitive and easy to understand.
Graphics: 7.0
The graphics are average, but people don’t play puzzle games for the beautiful
graphics.
Sound: 6.0
The music is wholly average, but at least not annoying.
Difficulty: Medium
This game has puzzles ranging from easy to hard. Sudoku is challenging, but
Crosswords is less so.
Concept: 7.0
These games have been produced for the DS before, but the presentation here is
good.
Overall: 7.5
The main reason for a DS is to able to play games when out and about. Solitaire,
Crosswords and Sudoku are the perfect type of games to play while sitting in
forced idleness. I plan on taking this game with me when I visit the family over
Christmas. Travel Games for Dummies compares well to other like offerings, and I
recommend it to anyone who enjoys word and puzzle games.
