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Setup & Timing
Planet Puzzle League, while oriented to be familiar to players of previous puzzle games like Pokemon Puzzle League, is welcoming to new players. As part of Nintendo's G Touch Generation line of games, the interaction is a very natural setup of touch-screen-only controls (with a button option). Wireless is right on the main menu and keeps both Single-Card Download options together, housing both the downloadable Demo and the Vs Play ("Wireless"). The opening credits are practically non-existant, which gets you to the game sooner. Download time is average.
Menus & Navigation
The menu's touch controls are accurate and require double-tapping for confirmation (which is good because the large number of options on the main menu leaves them close together). The programmers also seem to have been a little tentative with the menu's sensitivity, so tapping too lightly won't get you anywhere. The tapping, however is very accurate to where the stylus actually makes contact.
Ease Of Use / Play Control
Planet Puzzle League is extremely easy to play. The basic game mechanic is sliding: touching the stylus to one of the blocks on the touch screen, dragging the stylus horizontally (side to side), and then (when the piece is in the desired location) lifting the stylus from the touch screen. That's it. After that, the game's all strategy, speed, and accuracy -- all of which is up to the player to be good at.
Content
In this type of game, graphics aren't massively important as long as the blocks are large enough to accurately grab with ther stylus and move. While the graphics of the blocks themselves are a little basic (some of the patterns available), the game's designers went out of their way to provide several block options, several animated backgrounds, and a nice overall look. Sound is much more essential, however, because sound (through either music or sound effects) indicates when something's happening. In this type of game, plkayers can get focused on specific parts of the playing field and can easily miss something going on higher up or further down, so the sound should must definitely be kept ON. The demo is nice, but with a two minute time limit it is extremely short. What was done perfectly, however, was the fact that the demo can teach you how to play by providing instructions. In the Vs Play, it's awkward not being able to see every other opponent's screen at once and being left (at least partially) in the dark. The lack of the ability to play Demo-Vs-Demo multiplayer is also a disheartening.
Overall Fun
I want to start out by saying that Planet Puzzle League is a great action puzzle game, and is very similar in style to one of DSSingleCard.com's top rated games, Meteos. There are several game mechanics the two titles have in commmon...
- Both games require you to connect blocks three-in-a-row, four-in-a-row, or five-in-a-row.
- Both games use the touch screen for sliding blocks (with the stylus).
- Both games contain a downloadable Demo and Vs Play.
There are some notable differences, however, in their game mechanics (obviously)...
- While Meteos has individual blocks falling from above, Planet Puzzle League has rows climbing up from underneath.
- While Meteos launches blocks off the top of the screen, Planet Puzzle League drops blocks down to fill holes.
- While Meteos contains the ability to play Demo-Vs-Demo, Planet Puzzle League does not.
- While Meteos changes "gravity" on each "planet" in the game, Planet Puzzle Leage features only one slowly-increasing progression rate.
- While Meteos has different blocks with different characteristics, Planet Puzzle League's blocks all work the same (they just look different).
None of these differences are better or worse. Different types of players will see them in different ways. Some players want simple consistency (Planet Puzzle League). Some players want frantic variety (Meteos). I think that the games are different enough, however, that fans of puzzle games - especially fans of action puzzlers like these - will want to own (and will love playing) both games. One thing Nintendo (as a game publisher) has always done well is to have a keen eye for excellent puzzle games (endless replay value is NEVER a bad thing). Planet Puzzle League is no exception, and Nintendo hit one out of the park again.
Remove time limits from the downloadable Demo.
Allow for Demo-Vs-Demo multiplayer.
Increase the menu's sensitivity.
Further separate (and enlarge) the options on the main menu.
Rotate which opponent's playing field is viewable on the non-touch screen, or make all opponents' playing fields viewable simultaneously.
Overall Single-Card Download Rating: 89 / 100 (a.k.a. 44.5/50)
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