What do you look for in a handheld gaming experience? That’s pretty much the biggest question you’ll need to ask yourself before deciding to pick up “Picross 3-D” for the Nintendo DS.

Odds are you’re looking for something that, while certainly not up to console standards, is pretty to look at, quick to jump into and easily accessible with a good amount of challenge.

Thankfully, “Picross 3-D” is all of these things, with one caveat: for a puzzle game.

With games like “Brain Age” and virtual “Sudoku” as prevalent as they are for the DS, I have no doubt there’s a market for this title. Still, if the puzzle genre isn’t exactly your speed, “Picross 3-D” isn’t going to change your mind.

Here’s how it works: You’re given a set of cubes, with numbers painted onto the different faces. These numbers reveal how many cubes in a given row are “safe” — essentially, how many you don’t want to destroy. By breaking the cubes that aren’t safe, you eventually reveal an image. Get it? It’s like a mix of “Pictionary” and crossword puzzles — pic, cross.

The different areas of your brain this game will tease is really pretty impressive. You can almost feel it reaching into your skull, forcing you to multitask. You’ll be working the math lobe, the vision lobe and even the logic lobe, as the background images typically give you a hint as to what the image might be.

At the same time, your brain – like mine – might start to hurt a little as you try to switch quickly or utilize your mental prowess to the fullest of its capabilities. But I suppose working out isn’t supposed to be easy, and I promise the game will challenge you and grow your brain. [Note: Sophie Prell is not a doctor, and any advice given should not substitute information given by medically-qualified professionals.]

Now that we know how the puzzles rank — pretty darn high, and you can even create your own — we still need to look at the rest of the game. Graphically, there’s not too much to be super impressed by — I mean, they’re cubes. Everything revealed is cubist, your guide is a cube, the menu options are rectangles. It’s not exactly what I would call visually engaging.

Still, this is a puzzle game, not an adventure or RPG. Graphics likely aren’t the biggest of your concerns. And besides that, the art design is consistent, colorful and audience-friendly. Same goes for the music. It’s a light, techy-pop jazz style that goes well with the overall feel for the game.

Control-wise, “Picross 3-D” is accurate and tight. The stylus rotates the set of blocks by dragging it across the screen, and thankfully, you need to hold down a button to break blocks or paint them as safe, meaning you shouldn’t make the mistake of breaking a block by accident.

My only complaint in the realm of control is that, sometimes, I’m dumb. I switched up which default button set the stylus to hammer mode and which one set it to paint mode more than once, costing me a perfect score. Maybe you’re smarter than me and won’t make that mistake. Or you could go into settings and change up your controls, along with changing the music and backgrounds.

Overall, “Picross 3-D” is surprisingly personable for a puzzle game. It’s not something I’d sit down to play for hours, but it’s long and varied and challenging enough to be extremely fun for those 15 or 20 minutes you’ve got to kill between classes, work shifts or bus schedules.

This column appears courtesy of Sophie Prell’s blog, “G3 – A Girl’s Guide to Gaming.” For even more content, visit G3.