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> Results: Puyo Pop Fever
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Ever since Tetris, there have been countless similar puzzle games. But very few imitators have been as successful. One such game that is nearly as popularﾗespecially in Japanﾗis Puyo Puyo. Puyo Puyo has been ported to just about every single game system imaginable. There has also been Puyo spin-off games made in Japan, include an RPG and a dance game (Really!) featuring the characters from the puzzle game! Older gamers may even remember two versions of Puyo Puyo that were brought over to the US for 16-bit consoles, renamed as Kirbyﾒs Avalanche (SNES) and Dr. Robotnikﾒs Mean Bean Machine (Genesis). Now that Sega has the rights to the Puyo games, theyﾒve changed the name to Puyo Pop and the latest in the series is a flashy and colorful GameCube puzzler!Just like in any Puyo game, in Puyo Pop Fever colored blobs fall from the top of a well to the bottom. Match four of the same colored blob together and they will disappear. Any blobs on top of the disappeared match will fall down, and if any that falls matches up in sets of four, theyﾒll disappear, too and that counts as a chain reaction. Chain reactions give you bonus points and in two player games, chain reactions will send garbage blobs to your opponentsﾒ side. Garbage blobs are harder to make disappear. You lose when the well is full to the top of blobs. And thatﾒs all there is to it. Itﾒs easy to learn, but making lots of chain reactions takes planning and skill.  New to Puyo Pop Fever is ﾓFever Mode.ﾔ In a two player game against a human or the PC, when your opponent has made chain reactions and is about to send garbage blobs to your side, itﾒll warn you by showing dots at the top of your well. If you can make a match before the garbage blobs fall, the warning dots will disappear and a Fever Meter will fill up slightly. When the meter is full you go into ﾓFever Mode.ﾔ In this mode, a separate well opens up over your playfield, and some pre-arranged Puyo blobs are set for you to perform major chain reactions and really mess up your rival. But watch out because they can still do the same thing to you once they go into Fever Mode! Also if you clear your well of blobs, the well will fill with a arranged set of blobs that can be made into a chain reaction, kind of like a mini Fever Mode. This new mode is a interesting change of pace that can really turn the tables in a match. But Puyo Pop purists can also turn off Fever Mode if they like, or make it less advantageous. Graphics are bright and colorfulﾗalmost overly so. Itﾒs like peering into a bowl of radioactive Fruity Pebbles first thing in the morning. The characters are typical quirky Japanese puzzle game stock, and look very much like the ones from Super Bust-A-Move. The voices are pretty annoying, youﾒll want to turn them off. The Puyo blobs are depicted in 3-D this time, and the camera will pan in and out when you form chain reactions. But you can turn off that too if you want it to be strictly 2-D. Music matches the graphics by being cute and bouncy. Play control is as easy as Tetris, just rotate the blobs and make them fall. Puyo Pop Fever is a simple and engaging puzzle game that even non-gamer friends and family can enjoy. Kid Factor: Itﾒs a puzzle game. Easy to pick up, and no violence. Perfect for kids. Two-player mode with a friend is great fun, and the pick up and play nature of Puyo Pop Fever means that even casual gamers can figure it out and have fun with it. Too bad thereﾒs no four-player mode, the GameCube does have four controller ports. Still, Puyo Pop Fever is a fine GameCube puzzler.  Reviewer Recommended Ages: 6+ Genre: Puzzle ESRB Rating: E for Everyone Producer: Sega Developer: Sonic Team Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Puyo Pop Fever |
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