Puyo Puyo Tetris – The Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup – Review
Follow Genre: Puzzle, Arcade
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: SEGA
Platform: PlayStation 4, Switch
Tested On: PlayStation 4

Puyo Puyo Tetris – The Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup – Review

Site Score
9.5
Good: Story, Mechanics, Great crossover
Bad: Difficulty spikes
User Score
9.3
(4 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 9.3/10 (4 votes cast)

Even now, after many generations of consoles and handhelds, games such as Tetris, Puyo Puyo (or Puyo Pop) and other block/match four games are still as popular as ever. On smartphones they provide a fun pause from reality, while hardcore gamers still try their best to put down ridiculous high scores, or simply compete online, hoping to bring home the digital gold. Even though Tetris has always had a bigger following, be it thanks to the official games, or the bootlegged handheld devices in the nineties, it came to us as a surprise to see a crossover between Tetris and Puyo Puyo, as both games may be similar on paper, they are still very different when it comes to the gameplay portion of said titles. In many ways we were rather bejeweled.

Puyo-Puyo-Tetris-1

Story

As we expected this to be a multiplayer game, we doubted the game would have much story value, but much to our surprise there is a fully worked out storyline in this crazy mash-up game. You’ll first be thrown in the Puyo Puyo universe, where you’ll meet many quirky characters, who love nothing more than to battle it out with Puyo Puyo battles, which tend to have rather freaky outcomes. Winning, or losing a battle can have the side effect of teleporting you all over the globe, or even to different dimensions, where you’ll have to Puyo Puyo battle your way home again. Most of this is all in good fun, but when all of a sudden block shaped figures, for us easily recognizable as Tetriminos,  start falling from the sky, nobody knows what to do.

Later on, you’ll find yourself in a different dimension (as expected) but these new peculiar characters don’t know what Puyo Puyo is, and they rather fight out battles the good old ‘Tetris’ way. From here on out, both worlds start to merge, and you’ll be duking it out with either Tetris, Puyo Puyo, swapping between the two, or simply use both gameplay mechanics in one.

Overall the story isn’t something very deep, it is however rather enthralling and motivates you to play through the story mode, as it is well presented by likeable characters, a somewhat interesting plot with the converging of different worlds, and of course, an evil presence lurks behind the curtains.

Puyo Teto 5

Graphics

Graphically this game is a colorful mess, albeit a very coherent one. You’ll be treated to very flashy visuals, which are certainly standard in the Puyo Puyo series, and somewhat in the Tetris franchise. The Ubisoft versions of Tetris have been a bit lifeless during their last few renditions, and truth be told, this colorful bliss is a great upheaval for the series, albeit thanks to the help of SEGA’s lovechild Puyo Puyo. The animations are solid, and you’ll have a reasonable amount of different styles to unlock for both the Puyos and the Tetriminos.

The character animations during the story are a bit reminiscent of a childish visual novel, albeit a very pleasant one to look at. Overall the characters are diverse in all their 2D glory, and the developers included a lot of them, thus you’ll have a lot to look at. The backdrops are always static, but they do add to the overall atmosphere.

Sound

As expected, the game comes with a rather upbeat soundtrack, which will get you motivated to pop some Puyos, or clear some lines in a match of good old fashioned Tetris, or just throw everything together, making things even more hectic. The soundtrack may be repetitive at times, it will never disappoint.

One surprising twist in the sound department is that the story mode comes fully voiced, which is rather cool, especially given the amount of dialogues that are present in this game. The voices are qualitative, and perfectly suit the setting, as well as the silly characters they’re matched with.

Puyo Teto 8

Gameplay

Puyo Puyo Tetris – The Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup may sound as if the game is only intended to serve as a four player frenzy, but you could not be more mistaken. The game contains a lengthy single player story mode, many solo modes for you to hone your skills in both game styles or Fusion, and then of course, as the name indicates, there’s an enormous multiplayer portion. Of course, the game will revolve completely around Puyo Puyo, Tetris, Swap or Fusion battles. The first two modes pretty much speak for themselves, as in Puyo Puyo, you’ll have to pop Puyos by combining four or more of the same color, while in Tetris you’ll have to clear horizontal lines, by stacking blocks, without leaving any gaps.

As mentioned above, you’ll be able to choose between the ‘pure’ forms of both games, if you’d rather stick to the old school formula, but you’ll also be able to spice things up with extra game modes. The Swap mode means you’ll have to play both games at the same time, albeit with fixed intervals where the board will switch from one game to another and vice versa. This means, that if you screw up in one of the two boards, the game is over. It’s also tricky to remember the status of your other board, even though it’s still visible via a very small overview. Overall this is a great mode to learn the ropes of having to combine both games. If you’re up to speed, you’ll be able to aim for the Fusion mode, in which both Tetiminos and Puyos will drop down on the same board. The same rules still apply for both games, where you’ll have to combine four Puyos of the same color, or clear lines with Tetriminos. Things do get interesting however, as you can drop Tetriminos through Puyos, in order to create a level playing field for your Tetris experience, but even then things get very tricky, but they never get less amusing. Other modes include having to clear a specific amount of lines in a certain time frame, or reach a certain score, or compete against players with your score, which will then dish out damage depending on how much you’re in the lead, or falling behind.

Puyo Teto 4

This otherwise nearly perfect puzzle title suffers from one flaw in its story mode, namely the somewhat steep difficulty curve when you reach a specific point. Casual players will have a hard time keeping up, if they only play once in a while, compared to those who are aiming for the leaderboards. Other than that, this game works as it should and will guarantee you with many hours of fun.

Conclusion

Puyo Puyo Tetris – The Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup is a game that takes a risk to throw two of the world’s most beloved franchises into one hotpot, and hope for the best. Luckily for the developing team behind this title, they pretty much did what they hoped for and created an awesome game, not only for the fans of each respective franchise, but also for those who are looking for a fun puzzle game with a light story, or those who were waiting for something that would lift both franchises to the moon and back. If you’re into one of both franchises, or you’re just a puzzle enthusiast, this game will never ever disappoint.

Puyo Teto 7

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 9.3/10 (4 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Puyo Puyo Tetris – The Frantic Four-Player Puzzle Mashup - Review, 9.3 out of 10 based on 4 ratings

No Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.