Puyo Puyo Tetris Review

Puyo Puyo Tetris
Developed By: Sonic Team
Published By: Sega
Date of Release: April 25, 2017
Price: $29.99

Back in 1984 when Alexey Pajitnov released Tetris, I can't imagine he ever could have conceived that it would end up mashed together with arguably one of the most popular puzzlers from japan, 1991's smash hit Puyo Puyo. But here we are, in 2017 and such an absurd combo platter does in fact exist! (Though it should be noted that Puyo Puyo Tetris actually came out in 2014 in Japan, it's only now been localized!) So now, Tetris has got it's smooth chocolate all up in Puyo Puyo's creamy peanut butter, and the resulting consolidated confection is pretty sweet indeed.



I'm not sure who decided that it would be a good idea to combine both of these time-honored franchises, but I am certainly glad that they did. Somehow the two distinct games play off each other quite nicely, and manage to strike a decent balance. It's a bit different to see a normally serious (and somewhat bland) game such as Tetris spiced up with cutesy visuals and plot. Tetris: The Grand Master 3 Terror-Instinct this is not. That;s not to say that this game can't put up a good challenge, it can easily hand you your puyos on a silver platter if you're not careful.



So Puyo Puyo Tetris is part visual novel, part puzzler, and 100% weird! You have your 4-player battle modes that mash up the classic block stacking and puyo-blobbing, and as you rack up combos you dump garbage blocks on your foes, last one standing is the winner. A wacky story with a colorful cast of characters rounds things out, and a host of different ways to play each game is the icing on the cake. There's not a whole lot else to be said here, I mean it's Puyo Puyo and Tetris. Those two games really need no explanation as you've probably played several versions of each by now. TL;DR: Get Puyo Puyo Tetris, you won't regret it!

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Review

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Developed By: Lizardcube
Published By: DotEmu
Date of Release: April 18, 2017
Price: $19.99

In the year 1989, a company known as Westone released a game for the Sega Master System. That game was Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. It was an exciting action-adventure sidescrolling RPG with non-linear exploration, thrilling PSG synthesized music, and charming pixel graphics as was the de-facto standard for the era. It was incredibly well received, and in fact won the coveted Game of The Year award from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Fast forward to modern times, and Wonder Boy has made a triumphant return, lovingly crafted by the indie studio Lizardcube, in the form of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.



If you've played Wonder Boy III in the past you should be no stranger to the plot. Wonder Boy (I played as Wonder Girl, the title screen even changes to accommodate her) is out to slay the Meka Dragon, but little do they know that a trap is in store for them, as they are cursed upon it's defeat and turned into a lizard! The plot of the game is basically to journey forth and find a way to return to human form. All that is of course intact, but with a fresh coat of paint sorry, lovingly hand drawn visuals. Everything is beautifully drawn, and you can see the pencil lines and crosshatching, and the watercolor brushstrokes that make up the gorgeous graphics The overall palette makes wonderful use of pastel-hued sunsets and vibrantly colored vegetation to accentuate the dank castles and dungeons that your journeys take you. The sound and music have been equally attended to and are wonderfully remastered, with birds chirping outdoors and ambient drips and drops in the caves underscoring the brilliant orchestral arrangement of the original soundtrack.



That said if you wish to, you can turn off the fancy-ass modernization, and the original game which makes the basis of the entire package will shine through untouched, with optional details such as scanlines, phosphor glow, and the like available if you want to revisit the CRT days of yore. You can also choose between the unadulterated PSG soundtrack or opt for the full glory of the Sega Mark III's FM Synthesis. The lengths they went through with this project are stunning, and you can really tell that the devs are passionate about their work. I don't often assign a numerical score to a game, but when i do it's for the few exceptional titles that demand it. I give Wonder Boy Girl: The Dragon's Trap a solid 10/10.