Taking the Picross concept into three dimensions, you are presented with a large box made up of tiny little cubes, and the numbers on the sides of the cubes indicate how many cubes are in that row or column, and in what formation. The rules may seem complicated, but the entire Beginner level of puzzles is one massive tutorial, and the learning curve is perfectly set, adding new wrinkles to the gameplay one by one. So by the time you move on to the Easy level, you have a good grasp on everything. Plus, within each difficulty level, there are multiple stages, and in each stage are multiple puzzles that ramp up in difficulty. So after finishing one stage, the first puzzle in the next stage will actually be less complicated. It helps keep things from getting too scary too fast. And occasionally the game throws a bonus puzzle in between stages with a special condition. It's either a Time Challenge where eliminating cubes adds to the clock, giving you more time to solve it, or a One-Chance Challenge, where making even a single mistake will end the game. And last, but certainly not least, there are the Construction Challenges, where you will solve many smaller puzzles to reveal objects that combine to make an even bigger one!

You use the directional pad to either select your paintbrush to mark cubes to keep or the hammer to smash them away, tapping on the touch screen with your stylus to select them. Rotating the puzzle with the stylus is easy, and sliders let you examine cross-sections of the puzzle to make it even easier. Music is simple, and unfortunately repetitive. Sometimes I don't mind listening to it, but usually on the train, I'll mute it and opt for my iPod instead. Puzzles are given time limits, and if you can finish within the earlier time, you get a better score. You also get more points if you don't make any mistakes breaking blocks. Times are saved, which adds a little bit of gameplay since you can always go back to repeat puzzles to either beat your time or try for a perfect score. (Since perfect scores also have their own bonuses sometimes)

After marking the cubes to keep and erasing the rest, you will eventually carve your way down to whatever the object is meant to be. I enjoy trying to guess what it is from the monochrome shape before the colors and details are added (sometimes it's hard!). The object is then animated, and placed in a themed backdrop with similar objects. Obviously, the earlier puzzles being simpler means that some of the objects are a little more on the abstract side, but later ones can be surprisingly complex.

As with the first Picross, Picross 3D has more than just the included puzzles to enjoy. You can also use Nintendo WiFi to download puzzle packs that will be released periodically, and you can even create your own. You're able to make any object in a 10x10x10 area, and it's really easy to just tap to add blocks to create whatever shape you want. Then you can color it and add details and give it a name. The game fills in the rest of the blocks and adds the numbers for you, and then you can share your creation with friends or upload it to Nintendo. They'll be taking the best user-submitted puzzles and releasing them in download packs in the future, so look out for mine!

I still haven't quite figured out what that weird yellow creature is that hosts the game — it's vaguely duck-like, but so abstractly cubist you can't be sure — but other than that I really have no complaints about Picross 3D. If you're a puzzle game fan, there's really no reason why you shouldn't be picking this up. Playing it at PAX, I was a little concerned at its difficulty level, but that's because I was doing later puzzles without having learned all the rules. Playing the game from the start, it's really not as complicated as it seems. Sure, there's still some brain-bending here and there, but it's the good kind! Picross 3D is a fantastically addictive puzzler that will suck you in and leave you wondering where all your free time went!