Piyotama Review

Piyotama is a variation on the standard well-based, falling-object puzzle game. While it might look like Tetris crossed with Puyo Puyo in spots, it's a fairly unique take on this very well-worn style of game. It's interesting, though it's also a touch too easy. All of its issues, however, are mitigated by the game's very low $2.99 price tag, making it a good value-minded offering.

Piyotama's colorful graphics and upbeat music give it some additional charm.

Colored eggs fall into your pit on a set schedule, and the speed increases as you play. But you don't actually control where these eggs drop, or how fast they come in. Instead, you're able to move up and down along the sides of your pit, yanking eggs out in groups of three. You can swap the order of the eggs you pull out, then pop them back into play in any row you choose. When you match four of the same color in a straight line, they light up and get ready to hatch and vanish from the screen. When they light up, you can quickly create other lines to form combos, which is worth more points. Occasionally a black-ringed egg will drop into play. These eggs freeze up the row that they're on, forcing you to deal with them from above or below. There are three modes wrapped around this gameplay. The standard game runs on a time limit, though another mode lets you play until you lose. There's also a two-player mode that sends eggs over to your opponent's screen when you fit together large combos of eggs. It's OK, but it can only be played locally, which is a shame.

The controls work well and the gameplay feels different enough from the average puzzle game to help Piyotama stand out a little bit, but its main problem is that it doesn't feel very difficult, and this means that some of your free-mode games will last a very long time before they start to get interesting. The two single-player modes have online scoreboards, so at least you'll find some competition there.

It's a passable puzzle game that feels like it's missing a few features until you look at the cost. Three bucks is about as cheap as it gets for a downloadable game, and it'll keep you occupied longer than some other, more expensive puzzle games. It's hard to ask for much more than that.