More or less just what you would expect from a puzzler with little more besides some frantic multiplayer.
User Rating: 7.1 | Puyo Puyo Fever DS
I've been a "Puyo" game fan since Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine. Naturally when I saw it for DS, I hadn't played it in a while, and I decided to pick it up. Puyo Pop is a decent puzzle game in which different colored beans fall from the sky, and you have to stack them in groups of 4 so they explode and grant you magic powers (Yes explode and grant you magic powers). The whole idea of the game is to start racking up big combos by exploding more beans at once. ~ Mini Review ~ Its a lot of fun for a while but the size of the screen kinda hinders gameplay a bit and the tough AI may be too much for some puzzle game novices. The touch screen controls are useless, but its a nice change to use the buttons. This game might as well be a GBA game since only one screen is really used and the touch screen is useless. The sound is repetitive and kinda boring and annoying. The game can get dull after a while unless you have lots of friends to play with, but it's a good purchase for those looking for a DS puzzle game besides Meteos. - - - - - Gameplay 7/10 - - - - - Its exactly like any other game of it's type. You play against an opponent (both of your playing fields are on the screen) while beans drop from the sky and you work to position them in groups of 4. When you get big combos, useless nuisance beans start to fall on your opponents area, hindering them a bit. When one player's screen fills up with beans... they lose! Its fairly simple. The playing area seems a little small, especially on the DS screen where you can have up to 4 playing fields on 1 screen in an 8-player battle. The fever mode is basically just a little bonus where you get to see big combos play out. Its nothing too interesting and if you already own a Puyo Pop for GBA, there isn't enough here to justify purchasing this game. There is a solo-mode which is rather pointless and unchallenging (You can literally go through dozens of levels of play without thinking). The absolute best part about Puyo Pop Fever is the ability to have... 8 player matches! Nothing like this has been done with a Puyo-type game before and it is absolutely FRANTIC. Especially with the AI. You and 7 other people or CPUs start getting damaged by everyone elses combos. Its really hectic and the sound becomes really annoying but it's very, very cool. It's single cart play so if you have 3 or more friends who are into puzzle games... this is DEFINIETLY a must-buy for the multiplayer. Its rather hard against the AI since the AI is kinda amazing but its still fun for a while. Other than the single duels, solo mode, and awesome multiplayer, there is a little story mode. There are 3 sets of stages. A training stage mediocrely teaches you how to play (I wouldn't have understood unless I'd played the game before and even then I had to read the manual). The AI ranges incredibly. At first, the game is very easy. Soon though, the AI becomes much faster than most people can possibly react and you'll find yourself buried under absolutely rediculous combos that the AI pulls off over and over and over. Sometimes the difficulty of the AI is just plain frustrating. The AI plays at the same skill no matter what difficulty level it's set on. The difficulty just changes how many colored beans he has. The single player won't last too long but it has good replay value. - - - - - Graphics 6/10 - - - - - It's a puzzle game, you shouldn't expect much in this department. The game has a 2d anime art style and in-game all you really see are 2d beans falling onto a flat playing field. The backgrounds are OK, and there are a few lame cut scenes but really the only reason this even gets a 6 is because it can't do much better for a puzzle game. The style is very cutesy. The menus kind of remind me of Super Monkey Ball. On the positive side, however, everything is brilliantly colorful. You can't possibly complain that the graphics are dull. - - - - - Sound 5/10 - - - - - The least important, and worst part of Puyo Pop Fever is the sound. The music is upbeat and fitting yet far, far from memorable like in other puzzle games i've played. Theres some OK voice for characters, but the girl has an annoying voice. Every time you get a combo the girl will (in her high pitched voice) cast a spell and shout its name like "Lightning BOLT!!" Unfortunately, theres only about 3 or 4 spells. Meaning if you're good at the game and get a lot of combos, you'll be hearing that repeating spell over, and over, and over. Until you just want to shut off the volume. I need to start a new paragraph to discuss the next issue. It is one of the worst parts of this game by far. With the DS microphone, even in one player, if it picks up the slightest whisper, your character will say a little catch phrase (depending on who you are). Now I can understand this in multiplayer to taunt the other players but... if you're taking a car ride and the car is rather noisy or the radio is on... The sound of the game will be overtaken by your character taunting "Right on" "Right on" "Right on" "Right on" "Right on" "Right on" Simply put, just turn off the sound. - - - - - Value 8/10 - - - - - As a puzzle game, you can obviously beat Puyo Pop in a mere couple hours. And as a puzzle game, you can obviously play Puyo Pop again and again. It's meant to be played in one sitting as there is no save feature besides high scores. The game is pretty fun to play for about 20-30 minutes but it gets repetitive and isn't really for long periods of play. The multiplayer in Puyo Pop Fever is simply extraordinary, and should be your prime reason for buying the game (Even if you just get it to play against the AI). Puyo Pop Fever does get boring (as every DS game seems to) after a few weeks. But its still fun to pick up and play every once in a while. And with single cart multiplayer, you and up to 7 of your friends can engage in the frantic puzzle battle if they haven't yet ~ Other Notes ~ Difficulty: Puyo Pop Fever is hard. Its definetly not for the casual puzzle player or people new to the genre unless you want to be stuck in the lowest difficulty (it's not a lot of fun in the lowest difficulty). The AI, no matter what difficulty you put them at, plays at a frantic pace. Its very hard to keep up with the AI at later levels, especially on higher difficulties, I find myself replaying a level 4 or 5 times before I just manage to beat it. Learning Curve: The tutorial is kind of vague. Definietly make sure to read the manual with this one. You should be a little intuitive too. Overall, Puyo Pop Fever offers an OK single player campaign with some of the absolute best and most frantic multiplayer i've played in a puzzle game ever. There aren't really enough changes to make owners of the first Puyo Pop (GBA) want to pick this up, but anyone interested in the series should definietly take a closer look at this, especially if 7 of their friends have DSs and want to be blown away.
