Saturday, June 21, 2008

New York Times Crosswords


Product Description


The New York Times Crosswords makes a perfect pairing: The intellectual challenge of the New York Times crossword puzzles & the stylus control of the Nintendo DS. Write your answers into each puzzle with the stylus or use a Touch Screen keyboard to enter letters. Various modes of play will challenge even the most savvy wordplay enthusiasts.
Product Details


    * Amazon Sales Rank: #3 in Computer & Video Games
    * Brand: Majesco
    * Released on: 2007-05-22
    * ESRB Rating: Teen
    * Platform: Nintendo DS
    * Dimensions: 1.00 pounds


Features


    * Over 1,000 crossword puzzles -- use the Touch Screen & stylus to enter
    * Play Puzzle Me Quick for a fast word fix
    * Puzzle Week for extended play with progressive difficulty
    * Try Challenge Mode, with adjustable time and difficulty settings
    * Cooperative and competitive 2-player wireless


Customer Reviews


I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.5
Vocabulary is not my forte, but I love games, so I wasn't sure if I would like this game or not. I ended up really enjoying it - it has different levels, so it was good for the vocabulary-challenged, like myself. Helps me to learn new words, too.


I also have fun playing with my son, who has his own DS - we can play two players with two different DS's.


i wish there were lists of clues...3
I love doing crosswords so of course for my new DS Lite I got The New York Times Crosswords, the end all be all in the puzzle world. I can normally do a monday puzzle in fifteen minutes but it took nearly an hour with this game. And it didn't seem any harder except that there is no list of clues to scan as in the printed format of puzzles. You get one clue at a time in the upper screen. I also found it very frustrating when a puzzle clue referred to other answers in the puzzle it being nearly impossible to view the entire puzzle with the numbers showing. I would seriously consider how you do puzzles before you buy this game. Do you scan the clues until one jumps out or do you methodically go through in numerical order? I think this game could have used a little bit more input by people who do daily crosswords then they might have had a list of clues. Also I would have preferred a vertical orientation of the ds lite it seem it would be easier to hold and write. Get a subscription to the times or any other daily paper that carries their puzzles or do The Onion's online. This just isn't the easiest way to enjoy a good puzzle. Do not buy this game if you think fifteen minutes to do a monday is a long time...you know who you are. I still love you Will Shortz.


Great for quick bursts of crosswording5
I actually got a good deal from Amazon when I bought this game last year. They had a buy 1 get 1 and it came out to $7.48 each. I would've definitely bought this for its full price. It's been in my DS for months now. There are TONS of puzzles and what's nice is it has varying levels of difficulty. You also get to save your game and pick up where you left off, so there's no need to finish a puzzle right then and there.


The stylus control is decent, but sometimes the DS will mistake my "R" for an "M" or my "i" for an "L" so you will have to watch the letters at times as you write them. There is an option to turn off the music, which can get annoying. Asking for a hint will cost you a "grade" or two (you have the option to turn off the timer and grading), but you will eventually get a hang of the clues. Best of all, there is no newspaper to recycle and erasing is easy. There's no significant lag in the game, but if the DS doesn't understand your written letter, it will not write anything. The game tells you to alternate between writing in capitals and lowercase so that it "learns and recognizes" your handwriting. There are 4 name slots so if you share a DS, then everyone can have their own "account."


I have yet to test out the multi-player. I like how you can either do a "quick puzzle" or "challenge" (where you can select the day and difficulty of the puzzle). Mondays are easiest so start there. There is also an option for left-handed and right-handed.

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