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Puzzle Link 2 - a review by Bean

When I picked up the first Puzzle Link game, I was in the middle of buying every puzzle game the NGPC had to offer. I didn't end up playing it much. It just seemed really basic compared to Puyo Pop, Magical Drop and Bust-a-Move Pocket. Plus the whole 'card' idea appeared to be a really bad attempt at sloppily adding re-playability to the game. Puzzle Link 2 isn't too much of an upgrade from the first game, but it's got it's go

The one big draw in the new Puzzle Link is the extra card game you get to play. This will probably be the motivation for lots of Puzzle Link fans to buy the game, so I'll try to explain it in detail. There is a card 'mode' to the puzzle game in the option menu. This is where you'll gain the cards to play the actual card 'game' later. There are 5 circles, each with a card symbol in them: 10, J, Q, K, and A. They correspond to the card types you can receive when playing the game. Selecting Q, for example, brings you to a group of puzzle boards. You must clear the advancing blocks within a certain time limit, then you get a random character card, just like the first Puzzle Link, only this time the card you get would have a 'Q' attribute. Once you've gotten at least two cards of each type then you can actually play the card 'game'.

The closest thing I could relate the card game to is War. You put out a card, and the opponent puts out a card. Whoever's card is worth more, wins. Card ranks from highest to lowest are A, K, Q, J, 10, but an Ace cannot beat a 10 and a 10 is the only card that can beat an Ace. You get a certain number of points for winning with certain cards. (Winning with an 'K' will get you one point, but winning with a 'J' will give you 4 points because J's are a lower value card) First person to 6 points wins the battle and gets to take a card from the opponent. In the case of ties, each card has an individual 'point' rating, and the point ratings are compared to determine who wins. The game itself is INCREDIBLY frustrating to play against the computer. This is mainly because it seems that they will always pick the right cards to go against you and beat you. (EVERY time I've picked an Ace so far, the computer has picked a 10 to beat it). So don't expect this to be a fun experience. But, I could see how playing this against a friend would be pretty interesting. Another thing to note, is that you cannot customize your card deck in any way. You play with every card you have.

As for the actual puzzle game: Not much has changed. There are two additions to gameplay. One is the ability to hold down on the control pad and manually add rows of blocks to the playing field. This allows for bigger combos (they still havn't implemented a counter to keep track of your combos, though) and can also help you clear a board more quickly instead of waiting for the blocks to move down by themselves. The other change is that you have a 'Power Up' move now. As you clear blocks, your Power Up meter fills up. When it's fully charged, your Power Up will automaticly activate. You then have 3 power shots. When these shots hit a block, all colors of that same block will dissapear, making clearing an entire board with one power shot a very simple task. And you get THREE of these things! I think this could have been implemented a little better. I think only one shot would have been enough, and maybe it would have been better if you could store the shot until you needed it. This Power Shot feature is only available in the game's 'Endless' mode, so it won't help you to get more cards. You can also turn the feature off if you want.

The music is nothing spectacular, but won't get on your nerves while you're playing. The character designs are the same as the previous version. They're simple, yet they just seem to fit the game perfectly. I'm glad nothing changed there.

Not much more needs to be said about this game. If you loved the first one, this one will probably make you happy. Like just about every puzzle game, 2-player mode is where it's at, and this game certainly delivers in that department. The Clear Mode is still fun, and the card collection has been given a purpose now. I'm sure there'll be some stare-down matches agaist your friends trying to figure out whether he'll throw that 10 or not. I like other NGPC puzzle games better, but this one's pretty good, too.

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