Tenchi Muyou! Rensa Hitsuyou

"An overlooked puzzle game for the Saturn."

Gameplay: 8 Think Tetris combined with the popular Anime Tenchi Muyo. Its gameplay consists of lining up chibi versions of the series characters and pulling off combos. Your main objective is to pull off as many combos as you can and keeping the water and blocks low by lining up blocks of the same color, which in turn fills your opponents screen with water. When your opponents chamber fills with water and they no longer have room for any more blocks, it's game over. There are ten levels, each pitting you against characters from the series. This game can be very difficult at times especially at the later levels. I like the fact that you can choose different characters from the Tenchi Muyo universe. I liked that some characters are more defensive than offensive. For example, when some characters gather enough blocks they will do a special move depending on what character you are using. They might lessen the water that fills your screen, or another character might be more offensive by flooding your screen completely giving them a somewhat unique feeling. There are also some hidden unlockables that you can acquire after you meet certain conditions.

Story: 5 Not really much story or interaction in this game but what puzzle game does? However, the small sections of cinematics in this game does add some story I suppose. But since I can understand very little of what is being said, I cannot give this category a definite rating aside from the fact it gets the job done, especially for a game of this genre.

Graphics: 9 The graphics for this game at its time were wonderfully bright, and colorful backrounds are abound. The character movements during combos and such are well done.

Sound: 7 Not bad, fitting for this type of game. I would say its mainly plays like a mixed Japanese song.

Replay Value: 7 With the ability to play the game over and over again to beat your old scores, and the fact that there are some hidden unlockables does add replay to this game. Not overwhelmingly replayable but I found it enjoyable enough.

Overall: 8 With its charming gameplay and wonderfully animated animations, an average amount of replayabiliy and funky music, it makes for a fun distraction for awhile. Not a bad game by any means.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/04