There are 8 characters to choose from (3 more that are secret). The characters don't make any difference to the actual game play. There is a story for each character, though. There are 3 modes of play: Story, Self Challenge and Friend Challenge (2-player mode). The character that you control at the bottom of the screen can be moved left and right. You pick up pieces with the A button and lay them down with the B button. The grouping of pieces is counted vertically only, not horizontally or diagonally.
Gameplay - 8:
I've never played any kind of Puzzle game like this before. It's just such a nice game. It's extremely fast, keeps you on your toes (on the harder stages, of course), and is just so damn fun. In Story mode, you have a choice of 5 difficulties: Super Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Super Hard. You play against all 11 characters before beating it. The playing field is about half of the screen (split vertically). In Self Challenge, there are 3 difficulties: Easy, Normal, and Hard. The playing field is the full screen, and unlike in Story mode, you can pass through the edges to get to the opposite side. The only real problem I've found is with doing chains (IMO). As long as the game is counting your current hit, it will continue to count the next ones you put down if you are fast enough.
Controls -8 (9 with Shock 'n' Rock):
The control is almost perfect (bearing in mind human error). Putting down and picking up pieces is extremely easy. Moving your little character around is the little problem. Because of the clicky stick and its ease of use, it gets kinda difficult trying to move your character back and forth. Not really the game's fault, or the system's… More like my fault. The control is much easier though, if you have a Shock ‘n' Rock. They only go for about $15 I bet, and it will help control with many different games (plus it adds stereo speakers), so it would be a good buy. But I won't talk more about the Shock ‘n' Rock features and pros and cons, I'll save that for another review. Because of the bigger grip, your hand will be more comfortable and you can play better. I probably would bump the controls down to a 7 without the Shock ‘n' Rock, but that's a little too harsh.
Graphics - 8:
Nothing Bad about it. Nothing too spectacular. The pre-game graphics (in Story mode) are nice. The background is very colorful and is somewhat detailed. During the actual game, you can easily make out the colors of the pieces and you can easily see your little character shuffling around at the bottom of the screen.
Sound - 8.5:
The music is usually very good. Some are annoying (like the one in Self Challenge), and some are very good (like the music in the second level of Story). The sound effects are nothing to great. The only sound effects during the game, is when you pick up and put down pieces, and when you clear a grouping of pieces.
Overall - 8 (possible 9):
This grade was well deserved. Everything is nice about it (except one problem as mentioned earlier). It has a nice intro, nice game play, etc. But the game is not really a must buy (unless maybe you wanted a puzzle game). The only other puzzle games I have are Bust a Move Pocket (Puzzle Bobble) and Puyo Pop . It's definitely better then BaMP, but overall the same with PP. Sometimes I prefer Magical Drop Pocket, sometimes it's Puyo Pop (usually MDP, though).
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Game play: 8/10
Replay Value: 8/10
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