I love a good puzzle game. For years, I was stuck in a stuffy office environment with Tetris and Solitaire as my only means of avoiding real work and productivity. Tetris-like games or, as SegaSoft boasts about Lose Your Marbles, games that are "better than Tetris" always grab my attention in the hopes that I can postpone just one more unpleasant task. Unfortunately, Lose Your Marbles isn't quite up to the challenge.
The premise is simple, match up rows of marbles to eliminate them. Reminiscent of Sega's own Baku Baku, if you get five in a row, you dump marbles on your opponent (either a living, breathing person or the computer), hindering his progress. The game provides several skill levels (from beginner to expert) that vary in the number of marbles in your starting screen but with no noticeable increase in speed. There is also a practice mode, where you can pit yourself against the clock as you get up to speed on the game. The game is divided into five levels and each level has five rounds. Unfortunately, after losing your marbles for a while, it becomes apparent that the game AI isn't all that tough. I was quickly able to defeat my computer opponent nearly every time, even at the highest skill level. This poor AI makes single-player gameplay low on replay value.
In single-player mode, if you beat the computer in each round, you compete against the clock for bonus marbles to use in subsequent levels. Bonus marbles add new challenges, such as the "refugee marble," which drops move-blocking stone marbles on your opponent. If you fail to complete the bonus round, you don't get to use the bonus marbles. Since single-player mode can get boring fast, those bonus marbles help to liven things up. Unfortunately, the bonus levels get tough fast.
Multiplayer mode improves this game dramatically. You can either share your computer or play over a LAN. This works great, but the game is much more fun if your opponent is sitting next to you. As you dump marbles on your opponent and fill up his board, the expletives begin to fly. Other than these expletives, sound doesn't play much of a role, although the subtle sounds of the marbles snicking against each other are strangely satisfying. Like most Tetris-style games, sound effects exist to signal various accomplishments - they are helpful, but not necessary.
It's no Baku Baku, but Lose Your Marbles is not a total loss. Fans of Tetris-style games will want to give it a try.
