Introduction: Sudoku really needs no introduction: if you're interested enough to be reading this then you'll almost certainly know all about it and will be wondering whether this game can give you a good fix of puzzling pleasure. Read on to find out.

GamePlay: There are 400 puzzles available (which should keep you going for a while!). These fall into four categories: Practice (10), Easy (80), Normal (190) and Hard (120). In practice mode you'll be shown if you've entered a number incorrectly - but be warned that these aren't just 10 easy puzzles. I was a little shocked that it was taking me so long to do a 'practice' puzzle, until I got to the easy ones - and the first few really are very easy.

Only 30 puzzles in each level are unlocked to start with; with more being unlocked after you've completed a few. And the puzzles get progressively harder within each level.

Solve a puzzle and, depending on the level and the length of time it took, you get one or more stars. Collecting the stars is the way you unlock more puzzles and also how you qualify for a 'ranked test'. Here you are given a puzzle to complete in a set time-limit - fail and you can try again (with a different puzzle). There are four ranked puzzle levels - bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

Not an awful lot new that any Sudoku game can bring to the table, but Sudoku Master does have a couple of nice additions to other versions I've seen. Tapping a number twice highlights all instances of that number in the rest of the square - allowing you to quickly see where you're options are for placing any missing ones. Tap again and the mini-square plus the current row and current column are highlighted, showing you which numbers you've used so far.

I found it rather disappointing that there was only one profile available - as some competition between players might have spiced the game up a bit. As it stands, if someone else wants a go they'll either just add to your star total when they play, or they'll have to totally erase your scores & start from scratch.

Control: Pick your box in the puzzle by selecting it with the stylus, or using the D-Pad to navigate and then enter your solution in one of two methods. You can either select a number by tapping a 9-number keypad or by writing the number into a box. I found the handwriting recognition to be a bit flaky and it seemed to have a lot of problems with a couple of numbers: most notably 5's and 7's (although if you enter the 5 in the slightly odd was illustrated in the manual then it seemed to get it right more often). As a result I always used the default 'touch' method.

Graphics: No real variety or spice here: floating question marks in the background and a selection of three base colours. I found the little note numbers which you can enter in the 4 corners of the boxes rather small but just about readable. With a game such as this, you're not going to be expecting fancy graphics - the most important thing is for a clean and easy to use interface. Personally I wouldn't have even bothered with the floating background graphic.

Sound & Music: As with the graphics, the sound is pretty dull: you can choose between three background tracks to accompany your game; but to be honest, the last thing I need when trying to concentrate on a tricky puzzle is to have a tacky tune playing. I always had the sound off when puzzling.

Dual Screen Use: No real use is made of the dual screen for this game, though admittedly there isn't an awful lot they could have done to rectify this. The top screen just shows the same puzzle and the game timer and I found I was never looking at it. I did think that the sudoku section of Brain Training used the screens well - with the DS held book-like and a zoomed-in section of the grid used for entering your numbers using handwriting recognition. There is no support for the left handed player and, even as a right-hander, I found that I had to move my hand around a lot to move around the grid & enter numbers.

Final Comments: As far as it goes, this is an adequate, no frills version of the Sudoku format. It's certainly got the content with 400 puzzles which are apparently selected by the original creators of the puzzle. The addition of more than one profile would I think have made a big difference. It would also have been nice if some different puzzle types (i.e. other than Sudoku) could have been included - the newspapers nowadays seem to have a wide range of number puzzles for us. If you're Sudoku crazy then it's probably a worthwhile purchase - but Brain Training offers a better implementation.

Pro: Lots of puzzles with a steady progression from super-easy to super-hard. Nice 'hint' features.
Con: Single profile, no left handed support, lack of any real dual-screen use.
Final Score: 6.0

Reviewed by: Douglas Andrews