Another brilliant puzzle game is made wonderful to play thanks to the DS and its stylus.
If you don't know how Panel de Pon is played, it plays like this. Instead of blocks falling from above, they build up from below. In order to clear them out, you have to match up three blocks either horizontally or vertically of the same color. Any more than three blocks is a combo, and if you clear out another row of blocks in succession, that is called a chain. Obviously, you get more points for making combos and chains.
You are only allowed to manipulate the blocks horizontally. Whenever you clear out blocks, they disappear, and whatever's above them will fall. This will allow access to other blocks in order to line them up that you couldn't have done beforehand. What's nice is that if you have a potential chain set up, you'll be given a hint arrow telling you where to swap out the blocks.
You'll also have two different buttons on the side of the play field. You have a pause button that you can use if things get really hectic, and it will stop time so you're able to find a move that you can do. If things are getting too slow for you, you can advance the lift, and the lift will bring up more blocks for you to play with.
Planet Puzzle League contains a whole slew of different ways to play. If you choose Single Player, you'll have access to six different modes. Time Attack has you scoring against the clock in three different modes of its own. Score Attack is just that; get the highest score you can in two minutes. Lift Attack will only give you points when you advance the lift of blocks. Garbage Attack will have you clearing out as many junk blocks as you can in two minutes. In order to clear out junk blocks, you have to match up an adjacent group of blocks with a junk block, and then the junk blocks will revert to useable blocks.
Other modes of Single Player are Vs.Com, (play against the computer), Endless (never-ending marathon), Clear (a line will eventually appear, and you have to get the highest block to fall under the clear line), Garbage Challenge (clear a never-ending avalanche of junk blocks) and Puzzle. In Puzzle Mode, you're presented with situations where you're given a limited number of moves to set up a chain that will clear the screen of all the blocks. If you make a mistake, you have a rewind button that will take back the move you made. If you're stumped, you have a hint button that will tell you where to make the next move. If you use the hint button too many times, though, your game will end. Also, if you use the hint button, you'll need to start the entire puzzle over again if you want to the game to acknowledge that you've finished the level. There is a Daily Play mode that lets you play the game in short two-minute bursts. You can select from the same modes available in Time Attack, but you can only play them once per day, and along with a record keeping graph chart are the only real differences between this mode and Time Attack.
There is also multiplayer Wi-Fi, where you can play with up to three other people. This is where the real value of the game shines. Competition is always available, and the box does say there's support for voice chat, but I haven't been able to find a headset for the DS to try it out.
The game's got a nice graphical vibe to it. Similar to Lumines, there are multiple skins you can select from for pretty much all your modes. The backgrounds are vibrant with designs and pulsating lights, and when you make a long string of chains, everything becomes incredibly brighter. The only downside is that the latter half of the skins share the same tile patterns as the former half. It would have been nice if each skin had its own unique tile pattern. The game also would have benefited with several more skins, as 10 just doesn't seem to be enough.
Complimenting the skins are the wondeful soundtracks. The music of Planet Puzzle League is fantastic, with each track being upbeat and catchy. It's like a little techno here, a little rave here. Mixed in with the freaky backgrounds, it really gets that puzzler side of you pumped. If you're a fan of the Panel de Pon games, this is a no brainer. If you've never played them before, but enjoy puzzle games such as Meteos or Bejeweled, you'll definately enjoy this. If you're looking for a great online puzzler, again, you really can't go wrong this game.