Game: Columns
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 29th June 1990
Listen to the game OST as you read! (for the Nostalgia)
Sega's answer to Tetris, Columns was one of many puzzle games released after the former became a phenomenon in gaming. Many of these puzzle games were fairly unremarkable, simple clones or low quality attempts at emulating the gameplay of Tetris, however Columns was interesting in that it's pretty different to Tetris in a lot of aspects and due to being produced directly by Sega, where many of the other games came from less reputable game makers (although the original concept was merely purchased by Sega, rather than being developed).
Columns features gems, combinations of three of which must be placed on a grid, and colour matched in order to get rid of lines of 3 or more of the same colour either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Strangely for a game of this type, the gems given to players can only be placed vertically, so many strategic options cannot be explored. What seems to be particularly difficult is clearing the board back down without the use of super gems which eliminate all of a single colour from the board and appear periodically.
There are two game modes included; Arcade and Flash. Arcade mode lets players start with a blank grid, and build from Level 0, 5 or 10 (the latter two give a points bonus for a more difficult start). As player score increases, the level will increase over time and play ends only when the gems reach the top of the board. The music becomes more frantic as the gems pile up towards the top of the screen, but overall gameplay only speeds up as time progresses, rather than any other kind of progression.
Flash mode starts players with a goal gem trapped at the bottom of the grid, and an adjustable number of rows of gems on top. Players must attempt to get down to the trapped gem and match it in a 3 or more gem combination to win the round, and register a time. There are far more selectable options in Flash mode, and even the music can be changed.
Graphically Columns is very simple, its backgrounds and grid are fairly understated and contrast with the bright colours of the gems. The overall theme seems to be Greek, with the title screen, and song titles bearing many hallmarks of Greece. Musically the game is enjoyable, with some memorable tracks, although more thematic than tuneful.
Overall as a puzzle game, Columns comes up a little short despite its two modes and various options. Not being able to rotate blocks of gems means that strategizing is fairly one dimensional and the most I've ever been able to play of Columns before giving it a rest is about 5 games in a row. It lacks real replayability and it's not something addictive enough to be worth getting good at. While classic, it's important to recognise the game's glaring shortcomings.
Rating: 60/100
Grade: D
Game: Blockout
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: California Dreams
Release Date: 1991
Have you ever wished you could play Tetris in 3 dimensions? Tired of average Tetris rip offs like Tetrisphere that seem almost there but not quite? Well now your wishes have been granted! Or they were in 1991, with the release of Blockout. While it doesn't only feature the standard tetrominoes, Blockout allows players to drop Tetris style pieces into a 3D pit, and rotate them around all 3 axis. Once an entire layer is covered with pieces, it's removed but any gaps can't be filled with sneaky rotation as they can in regular Tetris, so there's a lot more thinking to be done.
With a concept like this, it'd be easy to overcomplicate the screen and mechanics of letting players know which pieces are on which level. Luckily Blockout features a very simply designed game screen with the pit in the centre and colour coded levels which appear both on the chart at the side and on the blocks in the pit as they're dropped. Black signifies the bottom of the pit, with red, orange, yellow, green, light and dark blue signifying the next 6 layers upwards. In a standard game there are 12 layers to the pit, so the colours simply repeat as the pieces get closer.
There are three main game modes; standard which features a 12x5x5 pit, and only flat shapes. This is the optimal experience in my view, and will challenge fans of Tetris to think three dimensionally about their block placing. While it may look complex at first, and the 3 axis button rotation takes some getting used to, once playing the game soon becomes addictive. I was able to have a good long game on my first attempt and will definitely be playing more of this mode in the future.
The other two modes featured in the game are a little different; 3D mode gives players a 12x3x3 pit to place shapes which can span 3 dimensions into. Because these are harder to plan for, this game gets advanced pretty quickly, and with limited pit space, it can be difficult. Lastly there's the most difficult mode which has a larger pit in which to place the most complex shapes the game can muster. These modes might be interesting for masters of the game, but I much prefer the Flat mode. Users are also able to set a custom mode by choosing the size of their pit and the block types which fall.
Graphically the game is simple in presentation with gridlines to help players guide their pieces in each dimension within the pit. The colours too are simple, but very helpful when it comes to illustrating which level each piece is on. There's no music to accompany gameplay which is a shame, but silence seems to aid concentration on the game, so maybe that's what they were going for.
Overall this game seems to get a lot of undeserved bad reviews, stating 3D Tetris simply doesn't work or isn't fun, but I'd disagree entirely; this is the best version of 3D Tetris you're likely to ever see. Anything more graphically complex would be distracting, and the addition of a few extra pieces helps out when in a 3 dimensional pinch. I'm not sure what anyone who dislikes this game, but still wishes for a better 3D version of Tetris is hoping for; this is a great brain workout.
Rating: 74/100
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment