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> Results: Dr. Mario and Puzzle League
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Continuing the trend of repackaging old favorites onto new platforms, Nintendo puts together two puzzle titles from the past, Dr. Mario and Puzzle League onto a single Game Boy Advance cartridge to double your brain-cramping fun. Both titles show signs of age but are ported with care, making them a good buy for fans of the originals and deserve some consideration from fans of puzzle games in general.
In Dr. Mario, players guide bicolor vitamin pills from the top of the screen down into a mass of colored viruses. Create a line of four or more same-colored blocks or viruses and they vanish from the screen allowing any supported pills to fall further down the screen. Dr. Mario distinguishes itself from other puzzlers of this type by only requiring players to eliminate the three colors of viruses present. Leftover vitamin pills or pill halves are not important as long as all the viruses are eliminated. The game has three single-player modes: classic, a versus mode against the computer, or flash mode where you race against the computer to clear three specific viruses spread around the game board. Additional options and features are sparse, offering three high scores and a few gameplay customizations. In Puzzle League, players begin with a screen full of five differently colored blocks and must clear them by switching any two horizontally adjacent blocks to eventually form rows or columns of three or more matching blocks. In the meantime, the blocks are slowly pushed up from below by new rows of blocks.  The single player game has many different game modes to keep you occupied. The basic mode is marathon, where you play as long as possible until the blocks advance too fast and reach the top of the screen. A timed mode challenges you to play for a high score within a limited amount of time. Versus CPU mode lets you go head to head against the computer and clearing blocks sometimes sends additional blocks falling down upon the other player's area. In line mode, progressively harder levels are presented and you must clear all the blocks above a certain line. Your time and score are recorded as you clear subsequent levels. In garbage mode, large lines of non-colored blocks will frequently fall down from above and can only be cleared after first changing them into colored blocks by clearing an adjacent group of blocks. Finally, a puzzle mode is offered where a small set of blocks are cleared with just a few moves. The challenge is to find which moves are required. The puzzle mode is scored by recording the time taken to solve each of two sets of 60 puzzles. Quite a large number of statistics and high scores are recorded in the options screen, encouraging players to strive to improve performance in all four single player modes. Both titles offer multiplayer options using a single game pack, making this title a good buy for families with multiple GBAs. Just be sure you have a link cable and some form of the original GBA as Nintendo DS doesn't support linking of GBA games. In addition to spawning a multiplayer game, the games can also be transferred in a small demo format to share with friends until they decide to turn off their handheld. Dr. Mario seems somewhat dated, with simple graphics and sound compared to many modern GBA titles, but the gameplay is intact and enjoyable to anyone who is a fan of the original. Puzzle League is actually a reincarnation of Nintendo 64 title Pokemon Puzzle League with all references to Pokemon (including a challenge mode) removed. Puzzle League is the primary reason for purchase as it has the most variety of play. The puzzle mode is great for those looking for a mental but not dexterity based challenge, while all the tracked statistics are fun for the dedicated puzzler.  While not the hottest ticket in town, Dr Mario & Puzzle League have more than enough to recommend a purchase for fans of puzzle games or fans of multiplayer GBA games. If modern graphics, sound, and music are a must-have for your games, you want to look elsewhere, but the rest of us can find plenty of relaxation and enjoyment in this game to make it a worthy purchase. 
There is very little to fear from this game. E for Everybody sums up the dangers nicely, unless you fall into a Howard Hughes-like fear of germs from playing Dr. Mario late at night. With simple controls, the games are easily played by younger children, although the somewhat dated graphics and gameplay may not interest them for long. Dr. Mario's simpler mechanics may make it especially popular with younger gamers who find more complex puzzle games frustrating. The multiplayer capabilities are a welcome addition, as families with multiple GBAs can use a link cable and a single cartridge to play most of the multiplayer modes.
This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Dr. Mario" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Dr. Mario and Puzzle League |
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