This was one of the strangest, yet most addicting, games I have ever played. Known as a “puzzler”, or a remake of Tetris Attack with Poké characters thrown in for popularity, this was a game that got me hooked back in September of 2000, and yet even now I still love playing the Marathon mode. Maybe I’m getting too far ahead of myself. Let’s see... it’s a puzzle game for the N64 rated E for “Everyone.”

This is yet another game rated on the 0-4 star scale. Who knows why I write these two sentences, maybe to tie the Review together or something.

Graphics: 1/2

Whoa! Whoa! Little squares going around a cylinder! Please, let me try to hold in my excitement! Uh oh! How about those excellent pictures of the trainers that look like someone cut them out of the animé? And those cartoons that play at times? Oh boy! These are so great, they might just beat out Madden and Melee! Wow! Plus a 1/2 star for the 3D mode at least looking a little bit like 3D blocks.

Sound: ***1/2

Now, time for some non-sarcasm. The music tunes in the background may have been at one time on Pokémon (the horrible cartoon), but quite a few of them are very good. #15 (on the Sound Test) is probably the best. #23, #30, #33, and #34 are all up there as well. They’re those type of tunes that get you into the game, or keep you awake, depending on the mode. Either that, or they make you start to hum them in your sleep. I don’t know why, either, but I like them. -1/2 a star for Ash’s voice.

Difficulty: *

If people say this game is hard, they must be talking about the Very Hard and Super Hard modes, which are just what they are, but other than those two modes, this game is a cinch. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, I agree. But, the Spa Service is so easy (except for the Cassidy/Butch and Giovanni levels), well, I’m trying to compare it to something that’s easy, but I really can’t. Anyway, it’s easy, at least after a while. Yeah. What else am I supposed to say?

Characters: *

Most of the trainers are annoying, and so are most of the Pokémon, not to mention the fact that this game does have lots of Pokémon (which I am no longer a fan of). The ones I like? Sabrina, Team Rocket, and Giovanni. Also, Cassidy and Butch, in the Spa Service, are very interesting, but you can’t play as them. Still, I can’t stand any of the other trainers.

Controls: **1/2

The controls are so, so simple (A switches tiles, the Control Stick or Control Pad moves your selector or whatever, and L or R moves the blocks up a row), but the problem is, they are almost too responsive or not responsive enough. Sometimes you’ll have a hard time getting the selector to move, and once you get it moving, it goes clear across the screen, from top to bottom or left to right (or vice versa, in each case). It’s sometimes ruins a good chain.

Gameplay: ***1/2

There isn’t really anything about the gameplay to break down, so I just have to put it in this one section. Basically, you’re switching two tiles, trying to get them to form a group of three of tiles and clear. There are different reasons to do this: in each mode, I’ll explain what. The blocks slowly move up from beneath you, and as you play on, in most modes, they rise faster. If you get more than three to clear at once (a “combo”), you’ll get a little stoppage in the moving up of tiles, and if you get a “chain”- clearing some blocks for others to fall into place and clear a different bunch of blocks- you get the blocks to stop moving up for even longer. If the blocks are at the very top, Jigglypuff, part of the top ten most annoying Pokémon list, will sing her name if you pull off either a combo or a chain, stopping the rising for even longer than normal, at a base time of five seconds. It’s excellent, and the one problem is that sometimes combos or chains will get ruined by accidentally clearing the wrong set of three blocks while you’re setting one up. That’s it, something that’s annoying but doesn’t take much away from the game.

Vs. Mode (either computer or a second live player): ***

This is one of the most exciting modes, as you’re competing against someone else, dropping “garbage” blocks on to your opponents’ blocks if you pull off a combo or a chain. Clearing blocks next to the garbage blocks will cause them to turn into real blocks, clearable ones. Like Dr. Mario, whoever reaches the top first loses. This game is great except for the fact that in 3D mode, if you’ve got many garbage blocks on your opponent or yourself, the game slows down way too much. Plus, the hard (Hard), harder (Very Hard), and hardest (Super Hard) computers know what the blocks below them are going to be, so they’ll move their blocks up a bit with their invisible L or R button, then pull off a huge chain, which automatically kills you, especially on the higher levels of difficulty.

Marathon Mode: ****

This is simply the best mode in this game. You must keep going and going, collecting points along the way, until the blocks hit the top. You can start from any speed level you want, but I suggest starting at speed level 1, L-ing or R-ing all the way to the top but using a combo just before you reach there to freeze the upward-moving blocks for a while with Jigglypuff, and starting a huge chain, getting tons of points before the game even gets hard. Once you move on and get above speed level 40, you’re going to have to move fast, get a combo prepared, and then use it just before the blocks hit the top, to get Jigglypuff to sing again and freeze the upward-moving blocks for a while so you can get more points. It’s truly a great mode, and probably the best in this game.

Spa Service Mode: **1/2

In this mode, you have to clear all blocks until they are underneath a certain line, making it a little like Dr. Mario. It’s simple and easy, which are the bad and good things about it, at the same time. I like this mode because of Team Rocket and the best Poké animé character ever, Giovanni, who beats you at the end about ten times until you get the hang of his level and then you beat him. I don’t like the fact that it gets boring after a while and loses its fun before you even reach the halfway point.

Time Attack Mode: *

This mode is a test to see how many points you can score in two minutes. It falls flat on its face because it is the opposite of the rest of this game. PPL is about survival, not speed. Having to score 10,000 points in two minutes to earn an award is crazy, and I mean crazy in a bad way this time. It’s good in some ways, but bad in a lot of others. I don’t like it, to say the least.

Puzzle University Mode: **

This mode reminds me of chess. You’ve got to solve a puzzle in a certain number of moves (as in clear all the blocks), which can be very hard, even on the easiest modes. I’m not a big fan of it, as some of the puzzles are absolutely outrageously hard to solve. I do like the challenge, though, just like some of the old chess “checkmate in three moves” puzzles. It takes a lot of thinking, and sometimes a quick finger.

Custom Puzzle Mode: *1/2

Here you can make your own puzzle. Of course, no puzzle you could possibly make is as hard as some of the computers’ puzzles, but still, you have the fun of seeing how big of a puzzle you can make and it’s like making your very own level yourself. I still don’t like it enough to even call it average.

Mimic Mode: **1/2

In this mode, you mimic that moron Tracey and that even more moronic Marill. He shows you how to do something, and you have to follow what he does. It’s a little bit of good memory, but a lot of teaching you how to do these chains and combos.

Super Easy Mode: ***1/2

This, however, is the best tutorial mode they could have made. This is where I really learned how to play the game. It’s like Marathon, but always at the speed level of 1. You don’t get anything for it, even if you play it forever and get one million points, but still, it lets you learn almost hands-on what the real game is like, just in a slower mode so you can do everything easily. Then, as you learn it more, you try it in Marathon mode and do a lot better there. Except for its almost too slow speed, it’s very good for a tutorial mode.

Demo Mode: 1/2

This doesn’t work very well as a tutorial, as all you do is watch.

Professor Oak’s Labs: **

This teaches you how to play. Basically, once you learn how to play, you don’t want to ever go back here again, as it is so very boring.

Concept: ***

Whoever thought this one up was very smart, or very bored. Anyway, they made this an addicting game, if a little boring at times.

Replayability: ***

I can still play this game a year and a half later, proving that the game is very addicting and also very fun, and big enough that I’ll have stuff to do in it. Of course, I have used up every single one of the game files, to can get maximum enjoyment out of the games.

Fun Factor!: **1/2

This game is very, very addicting, and it is fun. The only problem is that it gets to be very routine, and it loses some of its flavor after a while, but still, it’s very fun. The routineness makes it get an above-average score.

OVERALL: **1/2

This may be a very good puzzler, but I don’t give puzzlers any more than 2 1/2 stars. It’s very addicting, for the umpteenth time, and that makes it very replayable and fun. Is it better than the other great N64 puzzler, Dr. Mario 64? No. Three things make Dr. 64 win: Lower price, better music, and Mario is better than Pokémon. Is it worth buying? If you can find it, and find it for $20 or less, yes. Other than that, it’s only worth a rent.

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