Jun 202013
Zenses: Zen Garden
- Zenses Zen Garden is a collection of 6 games that are as fun as they are challenging
- All the games are easy to pick up and the game play is casual so they can be played for a couple of minutes or a couple of hours
- Each game has 50 plus levels and includes bonus rounds for more variety in the game play
- The games are a blend of highly addictive puzzles and brain training style challenges
- Increasing level of difficulty to ensure long lasting playability
Escape the world around you! Zenses Zen Garden is the third title in a series of games built for women. The game continues the success of the previous titles by taking the best game play from the puzzle and brain training genre and wrapping it up in a clean, fresh and stylish look accompanied by an ambient soundtrack to support the calm and relaxing atmosphere. Zenses Zen Garden allows the player to transcend the stresses of everyday life, unplug and experience an “active escape”. The result
List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 10.43
The Zen of Zenses!,
I own all three Zenses games now (Rainforest, Ocean, and Zen Garden) and this one is by far the absolute best. I loved the Rainforest & Ocean ones but Zen Garden actually is tremendously better for a number of reasons. First, it has more games included on it, secondly the graphics are better, third the music is better, fourth it offers better and more attractive rewards for achieving certain goals in the game, and fifth it relaxes me more while keeping me focused on the game – which was the whole point the developers had when they made this series. I am not sure why this version had to take so long to finally come out but I assure you it is very much worth the wait. Here is a breakdown of what’s in it:
SHIFT: In this game you have a board with stones of different colors, that you shift around and match 3 or more of to clear them. It’s a wonderfully relaxing game that requires simple strategy with a familiar gameplay format.
BURST: This is my favorite of all the games on Zenses Zen Garden. There is a board that is covered with a random array of dark blue bubbles in a variety of 3 different sizes. You have to tap a bubble (your choice) that starts a chain reaction of bursting bubbles around the board. Smaller bubbles need to be tapped or hit up to 2 times each to burst. It’s really hard to explain this game but it’s so much fun. I play it more than any other on here.
LINES: This one has different colored marbles on it that you click to arrange in lines of 4 or more of the same color to have them disappear. As you do that, new ones randomly appear on the board. This is easy, fun, and relaxing. I play on the highest difficulty level because that makes it more challenging & fun for me personally.
ROLLER: I have had so much trouble with this one, so I rarely play it. This game requires you to roll all your marbles but one into the water. Certain obstacles will prevent you from doing that and other marbles help you to move some. It’s just not my type of game, but others might like it.
COLLIDER: With this one, there is a large stone in the center of your touch screen that rotates and reveals carvings of Asian symbols. At the same time, there are symbols falling that you have to touch and place on the carving that matches the symbol. It’s fun enough. I enjoy it on higher difficulty levels.
SIGN MAZE: This is a very unique game that has drawings of boxes & lines that you have to touch to rotate so they line up properly. It starts off easy & gets progressively harder but it’s actually pretty fun and sometimes kind of difficult.
All of the above mentioned games each have their own bonus round that is a variant of the game it’s associated with. I have to reiterate that I like the rewards you get for reaching certain goals in the games themselves, and they show up at the end of the game like a trophy (and they are beautiful things like flowers and other 3 dimensional items). Plus you also have a scoreboard that keeps track of the date you got the high score.
Zen Garden also includes 2 more games that do not have the same scoring & bonus features. They are:
HIDDEN: This is a game where you click to find hidden objects on a picture. This is a tried & true DS classic. You move the picture around (to expand your viewing area) while you search for a list of hidden items on the screen, and tap them with the stylus as you find them.
TANGRAM: This one is another familiar favorite, where you have an outline of a shape/image and you have to arrange 7 shapes to fit in the outline to solve the puzzle. It’s very user friendly (allows you hints too!) and is relaxing & fun to play.
Closing out this Zen Garden of treasures are 2 nice but non-essential features that help in the relaxation process. They are: COUNTDOWN – it plays relaxing music with attractive scenery, and guidance to create a sense of calm. There’s also MUSIC PLAYER – another similar item that simply lets you listen to all the music tracks in the game with a beautiful background. It functions like a simple music player in that it allows you to play the same song in a loop, or randomize all the tracks or pick another, etc.
Zenses Zen Garden is really awesome and definitely worth the higher price it carries for this series. I hope that there will still be many more to come in this series. I love this one and play it very frequently in bed right before I go to sleep. It’s perfect for quiet time, or when you just want to unwind at the end of a busy or stressful day.
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|best of the three Zenses games,
The best review for Zenses Zen Garden is by “Joey’s Girl….Angie”. She describes each game perfectly. There’s nothing I can really add to her great review.
This really does seem to be the best of the Zenses games. The graphics are even better than in Ocean and Rainforest.
About the only thing that could have made Zen Garden even better would’ve been a virtual Zen Garden to play in.
UPDATE 10/18/2011:
The “Lines” game suffers from the same “freeze up” problems that the Zenses Rainforest “Skip Jack” game does. After you play “Lines” for awhile, it freezes, emits a high-pitched squeal and the only thing you can do is shut down your Nintendo DS unit.
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|Awesome,
I love these games by Zenses, they really stimulate your mind in a peaceful way. The graphics and sounds are awesome.
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