3.5/5 ★ – Lammy's review of Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S.

Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S post-plat review: SEKAAAAAAAAAAI DE~~~ Picross is one of my favorite puzzle games, and when I found out there was a Miku variant I definitely had to pick it up. For those unfamiliar, picross is a grid-based puzzle game where your objective is to fill in squares specified by a series of numbers in each row and column. The numbers indicate how many consecutive squares are filled, with a gap of at least one square between each separate number. Once completed, you will be left with a piece of pixel art. This game features 545 such puzzles, with grid sizes ranging from easy 5x5 puzzles to the most challenging 20x20 sets. Many of these are themed off of Hatsune Miku and friends, or music more generally, though there also more generic images. Each of the 345 "normal puzzles" unlocks a piece of Vocaloid-related artwork upon completion. The other 200 are so-called "special puzzles" where each puzzle you complete forms a portion of a larger picture, with the image only being complete after finishing multiple individual puzzles. This is a TON of picross for the price you are paying. The game offers hints if you are new to the idea of Picross, but rewards hintless and errorless completion with up to 3 stars per puzzle. These stars can be used to unlock Hatsune Miku songs, though there are only 18 songs so you'll unlock them before even completing all of the 10x10 puzzles. Doubly unfortunate, none of the 18 songs are particular standouts, and since they're all puzzle-related tunes we don't even get any of Miku's staple bangers. You also can't even shuffle through the soundtrack while completing puzzles, so the overall musical aspect of the game was a bust; I ended up turning the BGM off entirely and just listening to my own music. The game's UI is also a mixed bag; it's great both in-puzzle and in puzzle select menus, but all other menus are laggy and a little clunky. This is a port of a mobile game, though, so I'll forgive the jank as an artifact of its origin. Ultimately, the quality of this game depends on what you are buying it for. If you are approaching it looking for an excellent picross experience, you'll get that in spades, but if you're primarily in it for the Miku tie-in, you'll leave disappointed by the shallow nature of the collaboration. Overall, I'll give this a 7/10 leaning into the actual picross side myself.