Devil Dice

"The Devil made me do it!"

Tetris is the greatest videogame of all time. It’s a cultural icon. It’s simplistic perfection. Every second of every day there are hundreds of people around the world playing Tetris. Tetris is universally loved by more people than any celebrity, piece of conventional art, or religion. A lot of puzzle games get made, and all of them are gunning for the title of “The New Tetris.” None have even come close. Until Devil Dice.

With a set up like that, I should be getting a kickback from somebody.

Devil Dice is an excellent puzzle game for the Playstation with so much depth and addiction potential that it stands up to the Tetris comparison. The premise is fairly straightforward: You are Satan, and must destroy dice by riding around on them. Dice are destroyed when the number of matching dice grouped together is equal or greater to the number showing on top of the dice. So if you had a group of four fives, you’d need to roll another five over to destroy them.

The real trick to them game is that you’re using real dice, where each number is set on a specific side. Getting the dice to roll to a specific place with the side you want on top can be quite a feat, especially if you don’t have enough maneuvering room. It takes practice to remember what number is on which side of the dice, but once you get going you’ll be doing it more or less unconsciously. Just remember that the numbers on opposite sides of the dice always add up to seven. Soon you’ll see rolling dice when you close your eyes at night.

Devil Dice has several modes of play to choose from depending on how hectic you want the game to be. In one-player mode you can choose to play until the screen fills up with dice or until a preset time limit runs out. Multiplayer lets you play cooperatively, battle it out trying to kill more sets of dice than your opponent, or engage in a frenzied 5 player war where each set of dice you kill reduces your opponent’s health. To top it off there’s an extra puzzle mode that gives you a limited amount of moves to kill all the dice on the screen.

Devil Dice is surprisingly addictive for being the videogame equivalent of the SAT’s spatial abilities test. I have to be prepared to play Devil Dice because I know that once I start I won’t be stopping until my eyes hurt. I set a glass of water next to the couch in case I get thirsty. I go to bathroom before I start playing, whether I have to or not, etc.

The only question is why such an amazing game sold so poorly. Perhaps it’s the satanic subject matter. Would it have been more successful if it were called Angel Dice? Maybe, but then it would lose its artistic integrity and cool alliterative title. With all the recent TV shows and movies like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, and Practical Magic that portray witchcraft in a positive light, you’d think that the public would be more inclined to embrace Satan worship.

But the real sin is ignoring a fantastic game like this. All jokes aside, there must be dozens of parents and grandparent who passed on buying Devil Dice for the gamer in their life because of the title. If Perdition is playing Devil Dice for eternity and the Sweet Hereafter is playing, say, Bible Adventures on the Nintendo Entertainment System, pass me my pitchfork.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/02, Updated 09/06/02