PUYO PUYO TETRIS
Attack the block
Some things are better together. Hotdogs and mustard. Left sock and right sock. Pizza and pineapple. And, for Puyo Puyo Tetris, you and one to three other human players.
The basic idea – to fuse the hit Russian block-buster with the equally moreish cute Japanese bubble-popping strategy game – is fantastic. There are modes where you and your opponents can play the same game, different games, both games at once1 or both games swapping every 25 seconds. It should be harder to put down than a sticky superglue mitten. And yet the solo game is a massive letdown.
The story mode is poor. While it’s fun to have different game modes thrown at you, each level is preceded by the worst cutscenes we’ve seen in ages, static anime characters sliding onto the screen to squeal inanities at each other. 2 And the difficulty has bizarre spikes; you’ll race through the levels, then come to one that’s nails-hard, and features your AI rival doing things you didn’t know were possible. Go back to the tutorials to find out how they extended all your tetriminoes by a block… and there’s no information at all. How you’re supposed to compete when they know everything and you know only the basics is a mystery.
That’s why this is best played with friends. They know little more than you do, which levels the playing field considerably. With friends, you will find yourselves trying to fit in just one more game because you were each just that close to winning. It’s no Towerfall; you’ll still spend some time wondering how or why something happened, but at least you’ll all be in the same blocky boat.
FOOTNOTES1 The key is to concentrate on your Tetris lines, and don’t let the garbage Puyos build up. 2 One character only squeaks ‘Gu-gu-gu-guuuuuuuu!’ The charm rapidly wears thin.