TGS 2005: Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Hands-On

TOKYO--Puyo Puyo is another puzzle game in the long history of puzzle games that require matching similar colored bubbles in order to clear the screen. However, Puyo Puyo won't be lumped in with the rest of them, entirely thanks to the one-two punch of its story mode and unique bubble variations. The few different modes in Puyo Puyo all boil down to the same essential gameplay. Bubbles fall from the top of the screen, generally in groups of two, and although attached, they can be rotated around until reaching the bottom. The objective is to get at least four of the same color touching, and unlike other similar games, there are no strict rules regulating how this is accomplished. In Puyo Puyo, you can have a line of the same color, or a square, or a Tetris-shaped piece of any sort, but as long as they're all touching in some method, they'll disappear.

What makes Puyo Puyo Fever 2 particularly interesting is that there are other pieces thrown in among the standard two-color rectangles. These pieces are shaped like teardrops or swirls or even giant bubbles, and can be combinations of colors or uniform. Either way, it gives variety to the type of piece that you have to factor into your onscreen puzzle. The goal is, of course, to make sure your opponent reaches the top of the screen before you do, which can be accomplished by playing as quickly as possible and trying to execute as many combos as possible. A combo occurs when a disappearing group of bubbles facilitates another grouping of four of the same color of bubbles. If you can do this several times over, your opponent is surely decimated.

We played each version of Puyo Puyo Fever 2, which will be coming to the PS2, DS, and PSP, to find out what makes each one of them tick. There's little difference between the versions currently, which means that you're likely to be happy with any one that you settle on. Unfortunately, the DS version doesn't seem to have any use for the touch screen, and will merely provide a still screenshot on the touch pad. You'll be working entirely with the upper screen and you'll have no reason to touch or look down to the lower one. This is disappointing, but there's still an opportunity to work some use of the touch screen into the gameplay before the final version.

Puyo Puyo Fever 2's graphics are bright and well animated. Each of the three main characters in the game--Raft, Amitie, and Sig--has storylines that accompany the different levels and modes, although we'll likely have to wait for an English version to get a better idea of how those are going to be put together. Puyo Puyo Fever 2 is a combination of unique story elements and animation on the traditional puzzle-bubble game genre. We look forward to getting more updates on Puyo Puyo Fever 2 in the future.