Dr. Mario

"Very, very addictive"

Let's face it: Puzzle games rock the house. They rocked the house ten years ago. While they have mostly disappeared off of the market (*looks at Tetrisphere* *shudders*), the old ones still are cool. Dr. Mario is an old puzzle game ala Tetris. I think it's just as good, if not better, than Tetris. However, it is flawn. What is good about it, and what is bad?

GRAPHICS (6/10)
There really isn't much to say about the graphics. The sprites of Mario are pretty nice, as are the sprites in the corner of the viruses. Unfortunately, that's all that is very good about it. The rest of the graphics have been over-simplified to the point where it is actually a chore to look at them. Though they are insanely simple, though, it's not something that would completely drag people away from the game.

MUSIC/SOUND (6/10)
No better than the Graphics. The sound effects are nothing more than beeps and bloops, and the music gets annoying, fast. Get out your CDs. You are going to need them.

PLAY CONTROL (18/20)
Ah! A good area in the game! The Play Control is wonderful, because all you need to do is push the button to move the capsules and reverse them. That isn't tough to do whatsoever. Like the graphics and sound, it is very simple, which brings down a few points, but that isn't terribly painful.

GAME PLAY (28/30)
Addictive. VERY addictive. Very, VERY addictive. You WILL be into this game immediately into a few levels, it is so addictive. It grips you so you want to keep playing, and it becomes a standard pasttime. It is that good. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

CHALLENGE (15/15)
Now, THIS is a difficult game! Though the first levels aren't much difficulty, when you get into the last quarter of levels, the game suddenly jumps 10,000 times in difficulty to become EXTREMELY hard. The game has no end, too, so you can keep playing these obscenely difficult levels over, and over, and over, which is a great plus. You can start on any level, too, so you can keep playing these crazy levels, bypassing the easy ones.

REPLAY VALUE (15/15)
As I said before, this game is EXTREMELY addictive. You will keep playing this game forever. If this isn't enough, the game also can be played in two-player, having whoever clears out the level first winning. That adds the replay value to the maximum.

OVERALL (88/100) (88%) (9/10)
Beware. This game WILL take up all of your free time, as long as you have enough CDs to listen to. This game is simply that good, and that addictive. If you want to keep your social life, run away screaming. If you don't mind losing the rest of your life, this IS your game.

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