Sega Puzzle Pack: Blue
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| Sega Puzzle Pack

Here's a question for you. What's better than releasing a classic puzzle game on the mobile? Well, how about bundling two classic puzzlers together and unleashing them on an expectant public?

Sounds like a good start to us.

And that's exactly what Sega has done with Puzzle Pack: Blue, putting together two puzzle game stalwarts, in the shape of Columns and Puyo Pop.

Columns was first doing the rounds nearly 20 years ago on Sega's Mega Drive and Game Gear machines. It was a well-regarded effort, despite standing in the shadow of its far more famous cousin, Tetris.

The concept behind it is now a very simple and familiar one. Essentially, coloured gems, grouped in threes, descend from the top of the screen and you must shuffle the colours around and stack them towards the bottom of the screen. Whenever three or more gems of the same colour touch, they then disappear, creating extra space in the playing area. This match can be done either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Let the screen fill with gems and it's game over.

There are two types of game modes. The main one is Vs CPU, where you directly take on the computer. Then there's Endless, (which lacks some of the magic stones from Vs CPU mode), where you just need to get as big a score as possible.

The magic stones mentioned in passing about have different abilities and are actually a big part of the game. They appear whenever your power gauge is fully topped-up from erasing a number of same-coloured gems. The 'normal' magic stone, for example, handily makes all gems of the same colour onscreen disappear, regardless of whether they are grouped together or not. The 'attack' stone, meanwhile, raises your opponent's layer of gems by two rows, while its 'defence' equivalent enables you to send back rows added to your screen from an opponent's attack.

If it doesn't sound it, things can get quite frantic, as you look to build up your power level as quickly as you can so that you can use a magic stone on your hapless foe. Trouble is, your AI rival is trying to do the same thing. And in the later levels he takes a no mercy approach, so watch out.

Columns's visuals are adequate, with some good detail in the actual gems as they sparkle and spin to the bottom of the screen, while the tune is a faithful rendition of the theme from the original game.

There's a similar authenticity noticeable in Puyo Pop, the other game on offer here. It's also puzzler, but instead of gems it features little coloured gelatinous creatures called Puyos that fall down the screen in twos and which you must, again, match.

With Puyo Pop, rather than magic stones, there are Nuisance Puyos which drop down on you or your opponent's screen, ruining potential groups you were putting together. How many of these drop depends on the amount of Puyos in any given combination, and whether you get any chain reactions.

In Endless mode, like Columns, the idea is to get as many points as possible, but here it keeps track of how many objects have been erased and the amount of chains you have managed to achieve.

Puyo Pop certainly has a fresh arcade feel to it, with an up-tempo in-game soundtrack while the graphics are fun and vibrant. Like Columns, it's a simple idea but one that works beautifully and has historically shown itself to be dangerously engrossing.

Overall, then, no real surprises. Sega Puzzle Pack: Blue 'simply' features two very solid and proven puzzlers that are hugely addictive and fun. When you consider you get the two for the price of one, this is undoubtedly a puzzle fan's paradise.

Sega Puzzle Pack: Blue

You could argue Columns and Poyu Pop may be a bit too similar a pairing, but the fact that Sega Puzzle Pack: Blue features two genuine classics represents excellent value for money
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Chris Maddox
Chris Maddox
Liverpool fan, Chris, loves to watch the mighty Redmen play. In between matches however, he's an avid mobile games reviewer for Pocket Gamer. Chris has assured us that he only thinks about Liverpool FC a mere 80 per cent of the day.