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| PuyoPop Fever | // review | |
| I've been playing PuyoPop Fever for the past couple of days (when I haven't been playing Popolocrois - but that's a subject for another day!) and I've become quite addicted. I never played the original PuyoPop, so when the game dropped through my letterbox I was not sure what to expect. For those who are not sure what PuyoPop Fever is, think Tetris with exploding jellies, called Puyos. Check out the screenshots we've posted to get a feel for the game. The basic premise is that you must rotate and join up coloured Puyos into groups of four or more, which causes them to explode. However, PuyoPo Fever is primarily a two-player game, so whenever you create a group of four or more, you have an affect on your opponents board. If you're fast enough and create enough chains, you can create blocking items to appear on your opponents play field, making them work harder to create groups and chains. The object is of course to beat your opponent by forcing their game board to fill up, and this is much harder than you might expect. You're constantly having to think 3 pieces in advance, as well as looking at the patterns you are creating. Whilst it is relatively easy to create groups of 4 or more coloured Puyos, it's when you create chains - where the removal of a group of Puyo causes more groups to be formed - that is the real heart of the game. The more chains you create, the more 'attacks' you make on your opponent. If you do particularly well, you enter Fever mode, which is a series of pre-set Puyos. if you drop the provided Puyo into the right place, you can create an ongoing series of chains from the pre-set Puyos, leading to extended Fever mode. Being a Japanese game originally, the graphics are bright and colourful, and the soundtrack is particularly sparkly. Each character is also fully voiced, so while you're playing your character shouts out encouragement and exclamations, as does your opponent. The main game comes with a simple storyline, although you can easily ignore this, and a range of difficulty levels and computer-controlled opponents for you to practise against. Also included is a single player mode, which thankfully for those who are new to the game includes the original PuyoPop, as well as a couple of variants: Mission Mode and Fever Mode. Fever Mode lets you practise creating chains, as the only way of increasing the amount of time available to you is by creating large chains. Mission Mode is similar, although in this instance you are given set ways of eliminating the Puyos you're provided with. Failure will, obviously, end the game. PuyoPop is a very entertaining game, and will keep you going for days. If you can find some friends to play against, then the game will be even more fun as you try to outdo each other in double Puyo POP. PuyoPop Fever is out now for PSP, with the Nintendo DS version released next month. We played the PSP version. Related News0r Links: Screenshots | | |
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