Columns

"A Tetris clone that I like!!!"

A really sweet game that is an awesome Tetris clone but a great one from Sega. In Columns you cannot flip the blocks or anything but instead you use colors in order across, up/down, or diagonal with three of the same color in order to get points. You change the order or the colors by the A button while the d-pad moves the block around. It’s a cool game and I like it a lot. The control is easy and a six-button pad isn’t needed to enjoy this game. The graphics look great and show of the Genesis’s power. Although there’s no alternating backgrounds the levels change where the blocks come down fast and faster. With only one background and the music repeating over and over, the game isn’t the greatest entertaining game but for some reason, it really kept me interested. It is a two-player game, which is cool and makes the game funnier, which it really needs. Believe it or not, I got to/over 1,000,000 (1 million) points in this game at level 57 or 58 I believe. I could have kept going but it was late and I had to get to bed.

CONTROL **9**

Very simple to do. You use the D-pad to move the block around into 6 different slots. You then use the A button to change the order of colors to get combos. It’s very simple and that is all you need to know. A 3-button pad will work with this game and there isn’t a need for a 6-button pad. Going through option menus also is a synch and is very easy to do. Once the game gets going it gets a lot harder to move the pieces where you want and sometimes the Genesis controller didn’t seem to be too accurate. Although once the block hits the other blocks the order and place of the block can still be changed if you are quick enough. There’s not much controlling in the game to do so there’s not much I can type here.

MUSIC / SOUND **7**

There is one that’s right one music track in Columns that repeats over and over and gets mashed into your head in no time. Also there seems to be only one sound in the game too and that’s when the block disappears. Sure there’s other music and other sounds but you hardly ever hear them. While selecting options, you get a sound but hey this game does not have many opportunities for a lot of sound but I think that more sounds and some more variety with music could have been accomplished.

GRAPHICS / LEVEL DESIGN **8**

The graphics look great although all there is are blocks. When you get three in a row it makes this wicked little sound and looks like it shoots fireworks off. It’s really cool and looks great. There’s not a lot of game in this game that shows graphics but everything looks great from the option menus to the blocks. The levels just repeat and the only thing that changes is how fast the blocks come down at you. There’s not much here to talk about but in this game it doesn’t have a lot of stuff to show off graphics but there could have been some backgrounds added to the game to keep it interesting.

REPLAYABILITY **HIGH**

The game seems really fun by itself for some reason maybe it is just me but I like Tetris clones. It may just repeat itself over and over but its fun to do. The game has a 2-player option that makes the game funner and keeps it interesting even longer. This definitely may not be an action game that’s holds your breath every minute but I find it to be quite fun.

CHALLENGE **10**

Well the game will always win. You can never win at these types of games. The blocks just keep on coming and they come fast and faster and the level gets higher till you can’t keep up with all the blocks and you loose. The game may start off easy but give it a couple levels and you will be sweating to keep up.

OVERALL **9**

Possibly one of the best Tetris clones there are. The game has it’s high spots and I like it a lot this game should be easy to find and cheap to so I would pick it up if you like Tetris you can’t go wrong here.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/01, Updated 08/14/02