|
The Lowdown
Pros: Fun to play, challenge mode
Cons: No graphical upgrade, few "extras"
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
|
The latest addition in Sega's classic Ages series is a true gaming classic
Puyo Puyo. Puyo Puyo originated on the Genesis and was an immediate hit
with it's easy to pick up gameplay and it's original puzzle fighting
mode. Puyo Puyo made puzzle fighting so enjoyable it made Capcom and
other companies create their own puzzle fighters. Puyo Puyo Perfect Set
is the long awaited re-release of the classic game with a few extras.
Puyo Puyo at heart is a puzzle game closest a kin to Tetris. Different
colored blobs fall from the sky and you have the ability to rotate them
and place in your choice of position on the ground. If you can match
four of the same colored puyos you'll clear them from your screen. The
beauty of the game is that you don't need to have four puyos in a
horizontal or vertical row, you can make a square out of them, a "L"
shape or any other design in your mind to get at least four puyos
touching each other. Clearing pieces from your screen drops nuisance
puyos on your opponent's screen. Nuisance puyos are clear colored blobs
that land on top of your board, blocking you from clearing them. The only way
nuisance puyos can be eliminated is by making a
new stack of puyos and clear those on top of the nuisance puyos.
Having a lot of nuisance puyos on your screen is a quick way to lose the
game. On the other hand giving a lot of nuisance puyos to your opponent
is a quick way for them to lose the game, too. You can rack up how many
nuisance puyos are dropped by creating combos. Combos are where you
clear one set of puyos, which because of their removal means another set
of puyos gets cleared. Creating combos takes skill because you have to
plan your attack rather than clearing whatever is on the screen. The
game's challenge mode is a new addition to the original Puyo Puyo, which
emphasizes making combos. In challenge mode you're given a set number of
pieces that have to be cleared. What this pretty much means is you have
to make a combo out of whatever pieces you get. Some of the early
challenges are pretty easy, they emphasize piece placement. The first
challenge has you place a piece in the center where it can touch two
rows of puyos leading to a combo. Later puzzles get more difficult and
have open ended solutions to them since you have so many pieces to work
with. Challenge mode is sure to perplex even the best Puyo Puyo players
out there. Besides the challenge mode there is a story mode that pits
you against the random cute characters in the game and versus mode where
you can battle a friend.
If you were expecting some graphical revolution seen in other Sega Ages
games in Puyo Puyo Perfect Set you're going to be disappointed. Instead
you have the standard graphics from the original Genesis version.
Fortunately, the sprite graphics still hold up. The battling characters
like the Will o Wisp are still cute and they have enough animation from
the original build to almost make up for the lack of any graphical
improvement. Where the graphics get problematic are the puyos themselves,
they're too small. After playing Puyo Pop Fever, Sega should have taken
some step to make the puyos bigger so you don't have to strain your eye
looking at them. The music didn't get an upgrade either, you still have
the same simple tunes in the original Genesis version. The songs
have a cute rhythm to them, but they get boring quickly. The
main improvement in the presentation of the game is that full voiceovers
were added for the cutscenes before battles started.
If Puyo Puyo Perfect Set suffers from anything it's that there isn't
much added in the game. The challenge mode is nice, but beyond that the
only other "extras" are movie clips for the other Sega Ages games.
Possible additions could have been online play, four player support, a
new story mode or anything else similar to the additions in the other
Sega Ages games. Although, if you take it for what its worth Puyo Puyo
Perfect Set is a great game to play if you're into puzzle fighting.
Puyo Puyo Perfect Set is a simple game to learn even if you've never
played any of the other Puyo Puyo games. The "story" is in Japanese and
the menus, but it's nothing that you can't figure out by trial and
error.
US Bound?
Even though the Sega Ages series has been announced for a North
American release, Puyo Puyo Perfect Set wasn't in the list. It seems
like that Sega will bring it over, but who knows when.
Overall
Puyo Puyo Perfect Set is designed for followers of the
series and people who enjoy puzzle games. If you're one of them pick
this up.
|
|
