Game: Tetris Plus
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Natsume
Release Date: 18th October 1996
As most people have a favourite version of tetris (mine is DX on the gameboy), other tetris games have a fairly high standard to live up to; a little change in controls or gameplay can put players off almost immediately due to their loyalty to other versions of the game. I found that aside from having to swap right-rotate and left-rotate around, the only other issue was that blocks needed space to rotate, unlike in DX where they would move themselves away from walls if possible, to rotate.
There are 3 gameplay modes featured; Classic Tetris, Puzzle, and VS, as well as a puzzle edit mode. Classic Tetris is exactly what it sounds like; players clear lines until their blocks reach the top of the screen, aiming for a high score. Puzzle mode has 80 different setups in which the player must clear a path downwards for a cartoon explorer to make his way to safety by, before a large spike contraption reaches him. It's a little like trying to fix your mistakes in classic tetis, but with a time limit. VS mode has the gameplay of Puzzle mode, but with the added bonus of being able to send blocks over towards your opponent.
Graphically the game is bright and colourful which offsets the cartoon style of the characters well, even if it does make the game seem a little more like a budget title. My only concern with the visuals was that the colours had been changed from Tetris DX, making it harder for me to play at high speeds. The music which accompanies gameplay seems pretty cheesy, loops incessantly and doesn't fit the mood of the game particularly well. If I had been choosing tracks, it'd have been a remix of the original theme, or something closer to that style.
Overall Tetris Plus isn't a bad version of Tetris, especially if you're not an avid player and don't have a favourite version already. Puzzle mode adds some interest to the game as a whole, and can help players improve their skills in the classic version of the game. VS mode's adoption of the puzzle mode twists helps set it apart from any other Tetris game already on the market, and it appeals well to players without hundreds of hours of Tetris experience.
Rating: 65/100
Grade: C
Game: Bust-A-Move 4
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 31st October 1998
Titled Puzzle Bobble 4 in Japan (due to the crossover with Bubble Bobble characters), Bust-A-Move 4 is the fourth in the long succession of Bust-a-Move games, which is now up to around the 28th instalment, not counting clones. The gameplay remains fairly similar in each instalment of the game, and it's no different here; players use a bubble launcher to shoot bubbles of the same colour into groups at the top of the screen as they move down towards the player, and attempt to get rid of all the bubbles before they reach the launcher.
While there are 3 distinctly different modes of gameplay; Puzzle, Challenge, and Multiplayer (vs the computer, or another player), each of them have the same core mechanic as described above. Playing through the Story seems to be the "main" mode, and while it simply involves beating a number of opponents, it's nice to have some cutscenes and story between battles.
Just like Tetris Plus, this game is filled with colour and cartoon sprites which both enhance the style of the game and add to the budget feel. In Bust a Move 4's case however, this is a true as it was released as part of the simple series. The music (which loops incessantly) is one of my least favourite parts of the game; while it's tolerable on the first listen, by the time you've heard it 10 times or more, it's more of an annoyance.
Overall while this is probably one of the best games released within the Simple Series that I've played so far, it's because the game is already from a fairly successful series, and would be hard to get wrong. At it's core, this is just another Bust-A-Move game, with all the Bust-A-Move action you'd expect. I wouldn't ask it to do any more than that, but considering the number of complex and interesting games released before 1999, this had a pretty niche market.
Rating: 59/100
Grade: C
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