There are a lot of nice things in the world, but the feeling you get when you figure out how to solve a tough puzzle is uniquely gratifying. Hungry Cat Picross is a new game for Android and iOS that not only provides hundreds of puzzles, but places a new twist on the rules of picross.
The basic principles are the same as standard colored picross puzzles: you're given a grid, and the numbers on the sides of the grid correspond to the number of squares of each color in that row or column. The big difference is that in Hungry Cat Picross, the clues are sorted by color instead of by number. This opens up a whole new world of puzzles: there are a lot of possible combinations when seven blue squares can be split up into groups of any size. You're not without any help, though: if a clue has a circle around it, that means that all squares of that color will be in one contiguous group. Otherwise, you know that the three red squares in that column will be split up somehow. Instead of only looking for large numbers at first, it's helpful to find rows and columns with the fewest colors and try to work with them. You can also earn or buy magic paintbrushes to help fill in trouble spots. There's even a "Hypothesis Mode" where you can test out your ideas without completely messing things up if you're wrong.
Once you get the hang of the big change in gameplay, Hungry Cat Picross has a world of puzzles to explore. Not only are there 320 regular puzzles in a variety of sizes and difficulty levels, but every week there's a new giant puzzle that you solve piece by piece. The interface is smooth and easy to work with; even on the largest grids it's easy to fill the cells you intend to fill. The graphics are adorable as well. The hungry cat that gives this game its name watches as you fill in the grid, starts snoring if you go idle, and celebrates when you solve a puzzle, all while wearing an adorable beret. Little painty pawprints surround your finger or stylus as you color the squares. The game isn't perfect, though: in particular, it can be hard to differentiate between similar colors on certain puzzles. Changing the background color can help with that, though, and the challenge and the novelty of the gameplay definitely makes up for the cosmetic issue. The hungry cat needs sardines, after all!
NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on the LG Optimus L9. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
It looks like the android app link goes to the itunes store.
Think it should be https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tuesdayquest.logicart
You're right, Andrew, thanks for letting me know! I just edited it.
(I could have sworn I left a comment here last night. Did the cat get hungry and eat it?)
It's excellent, very nice polished little game! My boyfriend and I love picross and cats and it's been hard to put this game down since we downloaded it. We've been waiting for a Picross 3D for the 3ds, but that never came and this filled the void very very nicely indeed.
The caption that appears on the picture and prompts you into guessing what the picture is instead of giving you the answer outright added a bit more puzzle-solving into the mix too. I thought that is a nice touch.
So, the numbers disappear when I get them correct, but if they are wrong the other direction it makes it quite difficult to figure out where I messed up. If that did not happen it would be a great game.
Just stumbled on this one while browsing the "logic" tag, and I have to say, this is really well done. I like picross, but I've never been a picross nut, but some combination of the slight rule change and the ultra-smooth interface has me hooked on this one.
With regard to SHA's comment, I actually suspect that some picross purists would object to the fact that "overloaded" colorings are immediately flagged: as one reviewer put it with respect to a different version, "the game should let me dig myself into as big a hole as I wish," perhaps with a selectable option. So in that sense, this game is actually holding our hands more than many.
Update