Puyo Puyo Tetris review
Back with a new blob blockin’ beat.
The arcade puzzle genre has arguably been in a bit of a creative slump this decade. Apart from depressingly huge pay-to-win mobile games such as Candy Crush Saga, little else has had a lasting impact on the mainstream, with even highly-regarded releases such as Threes! and the Puzzle Quest series coming and going.
Cue SEGA’s Puyo Puyo Tetris (recently released in the West three years after its Japanese debut), which brings together two giants of the puzzle genre — Alexey Pajivnov’s world-conquering block shifter, and the venerable blob-arranging Puyo franchise many Western gamers will have played in the form of Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine on the Mega Drive. While ostensibly similar in concept — coloured things fall from top of well, manipulate things to make them disappear and stop well from filling up — the two games demand cognitive approaches different enough that the idea of combining the two initially sounds like it’s yet another attempt to rehash these games with superficial and uninspiring gimmicks, e.g Ubisoft’s Tetris Ultimate, which was memorable solely for its attaining the rare ‘honour’ of introducing server dropouts to Tetris.
Thankfully, SEGA avoids such follies in Puyo Puyo Tetris, giving us versions of both games that not only feel just right, but in a content-filled package that will satisfy fans old and new. There’s even a single-player campaign, which features characters based on both franchises going head-to-head, then making friends, then in opposition again, then… Well, okay, to be honest, the actual story is complete gobbledigook, but the cutscenes are skippable and the stages themselves comprise a pretty solid challenge mode.
Most of your time, however, is likely to be spent in the game’s other modes, which can be played with up to four players locally or online, or in single player. The majority of these modes follow the classic multiplayer puzzler concept, i.e. clear lines and/or chains to send junk to fill up your opponent’s well, and in most cases you can opt to play in either Tetris or Puyo style. In Party mode, you also get power-ups that either benefit you, or hinder your opponent.
Apart from that, you have your standard marathon and score attack modes for both styles, but where things start getting really interesting is in the modes that require you to play both. First up is Swap mode, in which the well periodically swaps from Tetris to Puyo, making you basically play a game of each in 30-second instalments at the same time. What makes this mode challenging is that you have to play your weaker style much more carefully, as reaching the top of the well in one will end the game. The other mode is Fusion which, as the name suggests, has you using Tetris blocks and Puyos, simultaneously and in the same well. As insane as that sounds, it doesn’t take long for it to start actually making sense: the trick is to set up chains with your Puyos, which you then set off with Tetris lines (blocks will automatically drop through Puyos, settling below them). Surprisingly deep and addictive, Fusion mode is a genuinely fresh take on both styles and the surprise highlight of the game.
The only mode that falls flat is Big Bang, a combination of Fever mode from Puyo Puyo and Lucky Attack from Tetris. Here, the object is to clear waves of pre-placed Puyos or Tetris blocks, with the slower player taking damage before the next round. Unfortunately, not only is the ‘slot piece or blob into pre-determined hole’ gameplay rather dull, but also frustratingly unforgiving, with even a couple of mistakes enough to lose you the whole game. With the wealth of content on hand here, however, you’re not missing anything by skipping this one.
Our verdict:
Puyo Puyo Tetris is a rousing success. It innovates in mostly the right places, while treating both franchises with care and respect. It’s certainly the best Tetris game in years, and comes highly recommended for that alone. What’s more, it also does right by the often underrated Puyo Puyo franchise, and a great starting point for Western puzzle fans who may not have caught the previous releases.
