"Horribly underrated puzzle game..."

Honestly, I can understand why this particular puzzle game would get such low ratings - it isn't really made for everyone and there isn't a lot of information out there about the game or how to play it. The idea of this game is to make sure that you don't reach the top by creating combos of three of a particular color with pieces of three...heads...coming down from the top. It's very similar to Tetris Attack or, better yet, Puyo Puyo in a sense as you can chain up combos just like you would in said games, but you can also go diagonally as well and, obviously, this game doesn't rise from the ground up - it plays like the original Tetris.

Sounds simple enough right? Well, let's go into why this may appeal to some and why it puts off many more who would rather not look into the complex nature of this game...

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

This'll be a little long, but I do need to explain this game a bit more for some to get the point of why I would rate this an 8 where most would go 'this sucks'.

Right off the bat, I should also mention to you that the pieces that fall from the top of the screen move in sort of a train-like condition. By moving the joystick any direction, you control the lead head and its trailers around the playfield, even though gravity works awkwardly against it. You may also press down or, better yet, the B button to speed their descent. Now, this can get confusing, especially when you mess with it for the first time and go 'what? how?' and expect it to work like Tetris or Puyo Puyo. This is an original design so you will have to do some studying on it.

Additionally, time makes up a lot in this game. Why? Well every so often your going to see one of those Pac-Man-like heads that are flashing start to climb up a hill in 1P mode until he falls into where the head pieces originate from the go into the playfield. Once he gets in, the next piece that makes its way in will have an additional head. This means, instead of 3 you will have -4- to contend with. Worse, this effect affects piece after piece and more heads will continue to make their way out up until a point (which is 5, in the earlier levels 10 and below, 6 in higher levels, etc.). That means you're going to be dealing with Pac-Man trains that klunk up a lot and then the top gets cluttered, most new people don't know what to do and...

OH MY GOD!

Third from the left is full. Game Over.

Now we figured out the frustrating part of the game...BUT...they don't send you out without a few things to help you IF you take the time to look at the three demos (even if it is in Japanese) and understand what the game's design is all about.

First off, if you do play this for the first time, you can set the 1P difficulty level to EASY with a dip switch change. This lessens the speed of the heads that come in and try to make your day worse by attaching themselves to the threes you're trying to use by themselves. Even then, however, you do have another defense against this effect in the form of chaining. Now, as I mentioned, it works sort of similar to TA in that you can chain one three or more after another, as well as diagonally. Doing just a simple TWO-chain will alleviate one of the heads from the growing train that falls. So, if you currently have sets of five falling and you do a two-chain, the next piece will have four. If you do a three-chain with said five-set, the next will be a three. You cannot go any lower than three, however.

Another newbie helper until after five levels of play is that the heads move and their eyes bulge, making weird faces, if what you are about to drop in any position will make an explosion (to even possibly chain). This is very helpful to those that are just starting out and have no idea if what they're going to drop has any effect. If you start getting a large amount of five sets, you may also start seeing certain ones that come down that are blinking and that have either a swivel or S-curve sign that come up in the earlier levels. By maneuvering the pieces in a certain way, you can create an explosion IN MID-AIR! Why is that so great other than it being somewhat cool? Well, any extra pieces that fall onto the field will then cause anything beneath it to turn to that color. S-curve ones usually give one row clear while swivels usually give two...and they are chain-able as the demos show.

But still...there is yet another factor that plays out in helping you. In each level, you need to hit 10000 points. A set of 3 will go for 300 points. A set of 3 that is chained to a set of 3 chained afterwards will be 300 + 300x2 (900) points, and so on. Obviously, this means that you need to emphasize chaining quite a bit, if not defensively but offensively as well to speed up your busting through the levels since the longer you stay in any level, the larger the pieces become and the faster the pieces start to drop. Depending on how fast you beat the level, you will be awarded a bonus or none at all if you take more than 100 seconds.

Ideally, you want to get what is a called a bonus jump at the end of the stage. As you can guess, getting from level 0 to 1 takes a minimum of 10,000; 1 to 2 takes a minimum of 20,000; 2 to 3 30,000, and so on. Depending on your bonus at the start of each round, however, you may get more than is necessary to start on the sequentially next level. You may go from level 2 to 4, in fact, if you have enough of a bonus or finished the game fast enough. If you REALLY clean house, you can progress as much as five or six levels in a single level clear...but only if you can clear the level in 10 or less seconds, which usually means you have a chain left over from the last level that lucked out in setting up.

Finally, because of that bonus jump, you get the ability to clear any color off the screen per stocked bonus jump. You can choose to use it between levels at any time or you can choose to stock it in case you need it later which is usually the smarter alternative. You can also use MULTIPLE bonus jump clears at once and clear several colors depending on your needs IF you get that many...and there is a limit depending on what level you start on and how many you start with given the level. Starting at level 0 will give you none of these, but level 5 or 10 will give you one. Starting at 0 will allow you to max out at 3 stocked bonus jumps while 5 gives 5 max and 10 gives 7 max.

There is also a 2P versus mode to go head to head with another human opponent which works in a modified version of this game. The more you chain, the worse you make it for your opponent, basically.

Put that all together and you have one heck of a wild ride for a puzzle game in front of you and a very fresh and original concept. Puzzle game masters cannot call themselves as such until the have played this game and kicked it around from one end to the other. If you think you're good because you can hit level 20 in Tetris or some odd, you haven't seen anything until you've played this game.

Unfortunately, that's why this section loses a couple of points. Although the design is original and well thought-out it does force some of the not-so-great puzzlers to get in a rage fit over the game due to the fact that you have to think and you have to think fast and it doesn't come without its fair share of losses before you start to understand what you're doing. It may take as long as months or years to figure it out entirely but that comes from attacking it in spurts, trying to get better each time. The curve in this game does tend to be a bit steep, but you can elect to turn the difficulty down to EASY to get somewhat of a decent start on this game, or at least try to. If you don't take the time to learn how to play the game, like anything really, then the problems start to arise.

That said, if this really doesn't appeal to you at all, you might want to reconsider playing the game altogether if it gives you too much of a headache. It is a bit of an acquired taste.

SOUND: 10/10

Just for the game over having people say 'OH MY GOD!' is enough to get this a 10, but truthfully there are some very decent sound effects used in the game. Not to mention that the background music in this game is EXTREMELY catchy for what's used. If they did anything right with this game, it was this.

GRAPHICS: 6/10

This was probably one of the larger shortcomings of the game. The in-game play graphics are okay but some of the graphics used outside of it, especially the title screen, could've been done a little better. I can also tell you why this game didn't make it to the States other than it being an exclamation OH MY GOD! and it comes in the form of a cherub's wee-wee in one of the demos. Not really something I want to see. Just a thought for something they could've fixed.

CONTROLS: 7/10

This is the part of the game that could've been less frustrating. It's not as bad as having to deal with 20G in Tetris the Grandmaster series with the Rotation System in the game for I-blocks...but it does have its annoying sides. Dealing with large trains will ultimately start catching up with you as the stack rise. You can end up crashing your train in mid-air and not be able to go further in any given direction if you aren't careful and it does get rather confusing for the first-timers out there.

Learning how to use the sets that drop on the screen is crucial but they could have made it better with some sort of rotation system akin to Puyo as a hybrid of sorts, I think, as it would've alleviated some of the issues new people have with the game. However, this just makes it a standpoint as a challenging game really. Take that any way you like.

REPLAY VALUE: 7/10

Honestly, that a personal value. The replay can be marked by one thing really - wanting to kick the game's butt for getting kicked around by its design. If you're one that, even after giving the game a chance, feels that game is too clunky and that it doesn't work for you then obviously this is going to be a bit lower. It's about a moderate value for me as it stands but the better you get at it and the more time you put forth, the better you'll feel about playing this game.

OVERALL: 8/10

I still think OH MY GOD! is a great game, despite its challenging forthcomings, but that could very well be dependent on the fact that I go for puzzle games in general, especially those close to Puyo, Tetris and Tetris Attack in nature. This pretty much simulates all three and put a spin on things as well with its own movement and drop system. If this appeals to you, then you might want to give this game a chance and put some hours into trying it out. You might be surprised.

If you aren't big on puzzle games, this will be one thing you won't want to get your hands on, likely, since most uninitiated puzzlers will look at it and go 'lol wut?'. Even some experienced puzzlers will be scratching their heads trying to learn the system unless they take what I've said to heart. Since there aren't any real FAQs created for this game as it is, I can understand why many would be confused without instructions but it's honestly not too complex to figure out eventually if you give it its due time.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/08

Game Release: Oh My God! (JP, 1993)