Review: Resco Sudoku Touch

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I started playing Sudoku when it hit my daily paper, The Washington Post, several years ago. That was shortly before the craze really swept across the country. Since then, there have been dozens of Sudoku games and variations designed for the Pocket PC. I have played all of them, and reviewed many. Recently, however, I have really shied away from Sudoku, choosing instead to focus on more challenging games such as Kakuro and Japanese Crosswords. Furthermore, while Sudoku is a great game on paper, I felt it always had trouble translating to the small screen. In many iterations of the game, the controls just feel clunky and awkward. My self-imposed semi-retirement from Sudoku was shattered recently, however, when I saw Resco’s Sudoku Touch with its finger friendly controls. Could this be the one that finally drags me back into the Sudoku scene? Keep reading to find out.

Overview: I think, by now, most of us are familiar with the general rules of Sudoku. For the two of you, however, who have never played, I will give you a quick overview. Sudoku is a Japanese puzzle game in which you must sequence numbers using logic and reason. Unlike other games in this genre, such as Kakuro and Japanese Crossword, there is no actual math or counting involved. As such, while Sudoku is traditionally played with numbers, it can be played with any sequence of nine items, and I have seen it played with letters, colored balls, icons, and even random characters to name just a few variations.

In Sudoku, you are presented with an 81-square grid, arranged in a 9×9 pattern. Within the grid are 9 smaller 3×3 grids. In other words, there are nine vertical columns, nine horizontal rows, and 9 smaller 3×3 grids. All of these are overlaid upon one another within the 81 square grid. The object of Sudoku is to fill the 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 mini-grids contains all of the digits from 1 to 9 only one time each.

When you start the game, some of the squares in the grid will already be completed. The number and proximity of these clues will depend upon the difficulty level of the game.

Finger Friendly: One of my biggest complaints with a lot of the Sudoku games which I have played is that the controls ranged from bad to awful. Oftentimes, placing a number on the grid was simply painful. Resco promises to change all of this with their new finger friendly controls.

To activate the controls, simply tap the square you want to activate, and a number box will pop up. Select the number you want to add by tapping it, and the box will close, placing the selected number into the appropriate box on the grid. I will admit, however, that I found the boxes to be a bit small for my fingers (and I have relatively thin fingers). I frequently tapped the one next to the box I intended to select.

From this popup, you can also add pencilmarks. Pencilmarks are clues which you can leave for yourself. This places the selected number into the corner of the box, indicating that it is a possible solution for that box, without entering it as the actual solution.

To use pencilmarks, move the slider on the bottom of the popup from the left position to the right. Now, you can select all of the numbers you wish to add as pencilmarks. Tap the red X to close the popup and insert the pencilmarks into the selected boxes.

While this popup box did make it easy to enter a single number into a single box, or add several pencil marks in one box, I did not find it to be the ideal system for my Sudoku experience. For one thing, the popup cannot be placed anywhere other than the middle of the screen. Sure, you can move it with your finger, but once you release it, it will snap right back to the middle. This can make it difficult to add pencil marks, since you cannot easily see the whole board. Additionally, when I am making pencil marks, I find it can be helpful to select multiple boxes at once if I intend to pencil mark the same number in each of them. You cannot do that here either.

Other than those minor inconveniences, however, I found the finger friendly controls to be a fantastic approach to the game. It was

Learning Aids: Despite some minor inconveniences with the controls, I really thought Resco Sudoku Touch was a fantastic game for the beginning Sudoku player who is interested in learning the game. It offers several aids and tools which can help you see the board more clearly and learn the strategies of the game.

• Highlighting: In order to help you see the moves more clearly, when you select a square, all of the squares in the same row and column will be highlighted. This allows you to quickly and easily identify which squares on the board will affect the selected move.

• Flag Mistakes. This is a great option to activate when you are just learning the rules of the game. When flag mistakes is activated, correct guesses will appear in blue, incorrect guesses will appear in red. Of course, it is still up to you to figure out why the guess was incorrect. This really helps solidify the rules of the game, and is a feature which I think all Sudoku games should include (though you should also deactivate it once you have learned the rules).

• Auto Pencil Marks: Pencil marks, as I mentioned, are a fantastic tool for helping you track the possibilities in each box. I have already told you how to manually insert pencil marks, and the game can also be set to insert pencil marks automatically. When activated, all of the potential answers will be inserted as pencil marks in every empty box. As you make guesses, the corresponding pencil marks will be appropriately removed. This is a great way to learn the relationships between the various locations on the board. Again, however, auto pencil marks should only be used as a learning aid and deactivated once you learn how to use pencil marks on your own. One final note on pencil marks, however, when you make a guess with auto pencil marks activated, the appropriate pencil marks will be removed. This is not the case when you use manual pencil marks. In that case, you must remove the pencil marks yourself. This is unfortunate. It would be nice if there was a middle option in which you could manually insert pencil marks, but they would be removed automatically as you made guesses on the board.

• How Am I Doing: Once you have progressed past the need for flagging mistakes and auto pencil marks, you may think that you are on your own, playing without a safety net. Don’t worry. Big Brother Resco is still watching and paying attention. Tap the info button on the bottom of the screen at any time to check your work. If you have made a mistake anywhere on the board, it will tell you that there is a mistake (though it will not tell you where the mistake is found.

• Hints: Sometimes, when you are playing Sudoku, you just get stuck. It happens to the best of us, and maybe you just need a shove to point you in the right direction. When this occurs, just tap the hint button. This will highlight a row, column, 3×3 mini grid, or individual square which is ready to be solved. It won’t give you the solution, but it will generally give you enough information to move you along and get you back in the game.
• Solve: Finally, there may come a time when even the flags, pencil marks, and hints are not enough. There are the times when you can envision your device flying from your hand as you fling it toward the window. OK. Take a deep breath and say slowly to yourself, “This is a $500 device.” Now that you are calmed down, there is a way out. Just select solve. This will add the correct answers to all of the squares on the board and end the game for you.
• Restart: Of course, sometimes you will also make a mistake which you do not recognize until later. You try to back out and fix it, but this only results in a bigger mess. Before long, you have completely lost track of which answers are correct and which you were trying to fix. you know what, you need to just go ahead and restart the game and try again. To do so, just hit the restart button to clear the board.

Hundreds of Puzzles: I am going to be honest here and tell you that I have absolutely no idea how many puzzles were included in this game. I can tell you, however, that the game is divided into four levels of difficulty (easy, medium, hard, and expert). I played all four levels fairly extensively in my testing and never saw a duplicate puzzle.

Still, if this is not enough for you, there is also an option to create your own puzzle. Simply open your daily newspaper to the Sudoku page and enter the puzzle into your device for your enjoyment. The only thing better would be if Resco offered downloadable puzzle packs.

Wallpaper: The background image behind the board is something which is rarely acknowledged in many electronic Sudoku games. Typically there will be a blank space or maybe variable colors. Rarely do you find full color, photo quality wallpapers. Yet that is exactly what you will find in Resco Sudoku Touch. Choose from six different wallpapers. It would be nice if you could create your own from a picture on your device, but the six included with the game are all extremely nice looking and make fantastic backgrounds.

Save: While you might be able to complete an easy game in five minutes, the higher levels are likely to take much longer. This means there could be times when you will not be able to finish the game in one setting. No problem. Just exit the game. The next time you start, you will be given the option of continuing your saved game. This will enable you to pick up exactly where you left off. Perfect.

Additionally, at any time, you can select the save game state. This will store the board exactly as it currently appears. This can be useful for those times when you must choose between two potential options. Hit save game state and continue making moves. If it turns out you were wrong, just tap restore game state to return to your previous position and select the other alternative. It is like having a Sudoku time machine.

Conclusion: As I mentioned, I have played almost every Sudoku game available for the Windows Mobile platform. Resco seems to have done a great job of addressing many of the weaknesses which some of the other variations faced. I also thought they did a fantastic job of including a variety of tools to help newcomers learn the game. I did feel the finger-friendly controls could have been improved, however, this was a minor inconvenience, which really did not significantly affect my enjoyment of the game. It has been quite some time since I have loaded a Sudoku game on my device. After playing Resco Sudoku, I am glad I waited.

What I Liked:

• Finger friendly control and menus
• Fantastic tools for beginners
• Hundreds of puzzles
• Ability to create your own puzzles

What Needs Improvement:

• Number entry popup blocks part of the board
• Cannot select multiple squares at once for pencil marks
• Does not automatically remove voided manual pencil marks
• Cannot create custom wallpaper or skins

Vital Stats:

Name: Resco Sudoku Touch

Developer: Resco

Version: 1.0

Tested With: Sprint Mogul with Windows Mobile 6

Also Available: Windows Mobile 5.

Where to Buy: Resco Sudoku Touch

Price: $19.95 (includes free upgrades for one year)

Trial: Five minute timer on each game.

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