Ah,
those lovable Pokemon. Those adorable little monsters. How could anyone
not love the little guys? I for one, could probably name about 200
reasons. Annoying, crudely drawn, high pitched voices, etc. But Puzzle
League is a bit of a change. It's not quite as annoying... in fact, it's
quite addictive.
Anyone ever hear of Tetris Attack? Well, this is it all over again. The Pokemon license is actually worthless and is not needed other than to sell more copies of the game. The basic premise of the game is take a screen full of blocks, shift them around until at least 3 of the same color match up either vertically or horizontally. While simple in it's premise, chaining together combos. linking multiple blocks, and slamming your opponent into oblivion as a result of your great play is simply irresistible.
The game is nothing to shout about graphically beyond the fully animated intro. The multi-colored blocks are nothing special and the only notable graphical touch is the Pokemon license put everywhere possible. The sound is put to much better use with "Pokemon puzzle masters" spouting remarks every time a move is made, which as you might imagine gets annoying quickly.
The many levels of difficulty make the game perfect for just about any age and finally winning that difficult game will give you a rush, a sense of accomplishment through. Plus, the game many modes such as the usual "puzzle" mode which sets up blocks that the player must make disappear within a certain number of turns add to the game's value. Also included is a "Create-a-puzzle" mode which tests players ability to design great puzzles and try them out on others.
The few puzzle games on the N64 lack anything special, but Pokemon breaks the mold, even if it is a carbon copy of an old Super Nintendo game. With a bad year ahead for Nintendo's console, this could be one of the last truly addictive games for the system. In fact, it's so addictive, this review was lucky to be completed. None of us could manage to get that stupid water badge...
