Reviewer: Agent K
Company: Atari, Oops I mean Tengen
Rarity: Liscensed C+, Unliscensed C (I'd say they're about as rare as dirt)
Expertise: Decent Level 4-3
I must say this is one of the best unliscensed gams I've played. Of course I don't count Tengen as they are Atari, not quite the same David vs. Goliath feel. More like Goliath vs. Goliath. Have you ever played Mahjong, sometimes called Shanghai. Well if you have and liked it, you should like this tile matching game. It's very similar to Mahjong only with a time limit that gets shorter every level. This makes the game both exciting and challenging. The only real problem is that the tiles are not randomly placed. There are only a few different placements for each level. One other neat aspect is the three special things you can get. The flag allows you to automatically get a match. The lightning bolt allows you to select any two matching tiles and make them disappear. The karma symbol takes away a brick. Overall this is a really fun game that might not have exceptional lasting power. However, I must say that it will be tough to beat. I can only get to 4-3 and there are 7 levels.
Positives:
Mahjong stepped up a couple of notches in the excitement department.
Glaring Negatives:
The same levels all the time. Also some of the symbols look very similar and take a lot of getting used to before they are easily differentiated.
Graphics and Sound: Decent
The music is alright, but rather repetitive. The graphics are fine as well except for the previously mentioned tile similarity problem.
Gameplay and Controls: Good
Pretty easy to move the cursor around and if you hold it down, it moves very fast. Believe me you will need this at the higher levels where speed is a serious issue.
Features: Very little
There are the three extra pieces, the flag, lightning bolt and karma sign. To activate the lightning bolt select the 2 pieces you want to remove, then hit the select button until the lightning bolt is highlighted. Hit A and voila the pieces are removed. Also there is an interesting two player mode.
Fun?: Quite a bit
This is a very addicting puzzle game. But it is also very challenging.
Challenge: Lots
The early levels are ridiculously easy but the later levels are very tough.
Replay: Lots to a point
This game has intense replay value until you beat it and memorize all the layouts. Then I imagine there would be next to none.
2 Player: Surprisingly yes
There is a 2 player cooperative mode. Personally I find this harder than single player, but it's cool nonetheless. You basically take turn finding matches.
Online Manual?: Yes
There is a manual for this game at TSR's site.
Bottom Line: Yes
This game is rare, cheap, and very fun. Should suit both collectors and gamers alike.