maxlords
03-31-2005, 12:28 PM
Ok, here’s one that’s a bit different for you. A cutesy puzzle game! But don’t let the genre fool you. This is one challenging puzzler, and better made than you might expect. This is one of the bargain basement A1 Games titles printed by Agetec towards the end of the PS1’s life. The series was released at a paltry $10.00 new and most people ignored the games completely, assuming they were not worth looking at. With pathetic names and covers, it’s not surprising that a lot of the A1 series slipped under everyone’s radar, and Puzzle Star Sweep is no exception.
As a puzzler, you can almost automatically ignore the storyline in Puzzle Star Sweep. There is a story mode, as well as a one player regular play mode. In addition, there’s the standard versus mode, and an unlockable special mode which I have yet to have managed to access. All very standard. What is interesting however is the gameplay. There are three colors of blocks, red, blue, and yellow. Each block is rectangular, and has a star on one end. To clear the blocks, you have to match up the stars of the same color blocks. It sounds simple, but it’s not. If you want to make any progress, you have to plan chain reactions, and unlike normal puzzle games, the blocks don’t interlock so well. In fact, it’s much more difficult to form chain reactions than in a game like Puyo Puyo or Columns or Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. In Puzzle Star Sweep, you invariably end up with large amounts of gaps all over the screen, making the pacing rather frantic. On top of that, the game drops clouds into your playfield which must be eliminated by clearing star blocks that are touching the clouds. Once again, it sounds simple, but the clouds drop [i]very[/]fast, especially in two player.
To add just a bit more, the designers actually threw bosses into the one player mode. The bosses actually sit inside your playfield and you have to clear them by making matches. A rather novel idea…one that’s only been used a handful of times in puzzle games, most notably in Twinkle Star Sprites, which in and of itself is a rather unique game. There’s really little more to be said. Puzzle Star Sweep is surprisingly fast-paced and relatively intricate as puzzle games go. The gameplay is simple, but challenging, and it makes for a great game. Things are all about the gameplay with this little known gem. The music and graphics are nothing special, but they don’t really need to be, as you’ll be too busy playing it to even notice. For around $5-10, this is one game you shouldn’t pass up for your Playstation!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/7e3ffea2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/e6b4ca19.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/a996dafe.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/10b9587a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/7df92c60.jpg
As a puzzler, you can almost automatically ignore the storyline in Puzzle Star Sweep. There is a story mode, as well as a one player regular play mode. In addition, there’s the standard versus mode, and an unlockable special mode which I have yet to have managed to access. All very standard. What is interesting however is the gameplay. There are three colors of blocks, red, blue, and yellow. Each block is rectangular, and has a star on one end. To clear the blocks, you have to match up the stars of the same color blocks. It sounds simple, but it’s not. If you want to make any progress, you have to plan chain reactions, and unlike normal puzzle games, the blocks don’t interlock so well. In fact, it’s much more difficult to form chain reactions than in a game like Puyo Puyo or Columns or Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. In Puzzle Star Sweep, you invariably end up with large amounts of gaps all over the screen, making the pacing rather frantic. On top of that, the game drops clouds into your playfield which must be eliminated by clearing star blocks that are touching the clouds. Once again, it sounds simple, but the clouds drop [i]very[/]fast, especially in two player.
To add just a bit more, the designers actually threw bosses into the one player mode. The bosses actually sit inside your playfield and you have to clear them by making matches. A rather novel idea…one that’s only been used a handful of times in puzzle games, most notably in Twinkle Star Sprites, which in and of itself is a rather unique game. There’s really little more to be said. Puzzle Star Sweep is surprisingly fast-paced and relatively intricate as puzzle games go. The gameplay is simple, but challenging, and it makes for a great game. Things are all about the gameplay with this little known gem. The music and graphics are nothing special, but they don’t really need to be, as you’ll be too busy playing it to even notice. For around $5-10, this is one game you shouldn’t pass up for your Playstation!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/7e3ffea2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/e6b4ca19.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/a996dafe.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/10b9587a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/maxlords/7df92c60.jpg