CrossWorDS

Developer: Nuevo Retro Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: May 5, 2008
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web page

In a nutshell: Crosswords + DS = Super Mario Galaxy. Wait a minute...

0:00 I became moderately good at crosswords during my college earth science course. Thank god for the college paper for saving my sanity.

0:01 The DS is held sideways, like a book, which seems perfect for a game like this. I don't feel I really need any "training" to know how to work a crossword puzzle, but I'll humor the game... why not.

0:02 Double-tapping a square on the touch screen zooms in and lets me write the appropriate letter. The clues and the larger puzzle remain on the other screen. A pretty good setup.

0:03 The letters show up in red if they're wrong? I nice concession for beginners, but it would never fly for professional crossworders (Yes, they do exist. You should all go see the movie Wordplay).

0:04 As if the red letters weren't enough, you can also get extra hints! Up to 10 per puzzle! At least the game gives you a time penalty for cheating this way.

0:06 The first, sample 4x4 puzzle is really easy to solve. I like how the game auto-scrolls to the next square after I enter a letter. The on-screen arrows make it easy to move around without ever zooming out, too. So far, the software is excellent as recognizing my bad handwriting much better than the similar Brain Age!

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer