Octomania

"The successor to Puyo? Not really, but so cute..."

Let me begin this review with a little back story about the original creators of this game. Back in the days of old there was a company called Compile. Compile made a dungeon crawler game that pretty much sucked. Afterwards however they decided to take the characters from that game and make a new game in a totally different genre. That game was called Puyo Puyo, a puzzle game like no other at the time. If you're unaware of the title Puyo, perhaps you may have heard of its many clones including Dr. Robotnik's Mean Beam Machine or Kirby's Avalanche. Regardless however, Puyo became one of the most famous puzzle game series to ever hit Japan.

However the company Compile had run into many troubles along the line, and thus ultimately went bankrupt. At this time they sold their most valued asset, their best selling franchise Puyo Puyo to Sega. Afterwards Sega continued to produce Puyo games through Sonic Team, and Compile was never heard from again… That is, until a few years back, people from the original Compile decided to make their own companies. One of those people, the head of Compile, decided to make Compile Heart, a new company focused on more than just puzzle games.
And this brings us to Octomania, a game which I honestly feel can compare greatly to the Puyo franchise. The same ideas of colorful characters and upbeat music and quote-yelling combo system, it really does have the puyo vibe. With that introduction done, let's go into the actual review now, shall we?

Story: 7/10

The storylines are so corny it can only best be described as intentional. The main story is about Kari, a young apprentice magician who decides she wants a quick snack and decides to conjure up some Takoyaki (fried octopus). But instead of summoning her delicious treat she causes a rain of colored octopuses to fall onto her homeland of Lonronpia. It then becomes her quest to rid the land of the raining octopus (which by the way are the pieces you use for the puzzle game) and restore the world back to normal. Along the way she encounters a hilarious and bizarre cast of characters who all have their own stories as well.

Yes, Kari isn't the only person you can play as. There are other characters such as Angelique the resident angel of Lonropia, Exaltus prince of demons, Dramo, Exaltus's pet dragon who secretly wishes to rule the kingdom. Gobu the obsessive compulsive cleaning goblin, Kanizaemon the samurai crab, Funkee the rapping rainbow afro tree with horrible lyrics, Kapprio the Kappa who thinks he is irresistibly sexy, Fei Fei, class president of Kari's class who also has a crush on the prince, Octobot the robot sworn to protect the prince, Takobo the cannibalistic octopus chef (he is an octopus who makes Takoyaki) And finally Shadow Kari, the evil version of Kari who wishes to destroy the original to take her place.

As you can tell this game has a very interesting and silly cast of characters. The actual storyline of each character is even more out of this world and the dialogue between characters can almost make absolutely no sense at times. Regardless it's actually a very accurate translation which is why people not familiar with Japanese culture might be lost. If you can appreciate the comedy this game uses you will be in heaven.

Gameplay: 10/10

This is the core of any puzzle game, right? Well Octomania will not disappoint you! The gameplay goes a little something like this… You are given a playing field where the octopus of different colors rain from the sky. As they come down onto the field you can spin them around using a 4x4 square to spin them clockwise or counterclockwise. The main point of the game is to move octopus of the same color into nets across the playing field. Each net has a number of them, which represents how many same-color octopus must be on the net to make it disappear. When you get that said number of same-color octopus onto the net the net and octopus will disappear and the octopus will leave behind a puff of colored smoke (based on what the color of the octopus were). Then the combo system kicks in.

Any same-color octopus outside of the net which are directly touching the clouds will also disappear and leave clouds behind, cause a combo. You can aim to set up a train of same colored octopus to cause a large chain-reaction or use the small amount of time you have to move colored octopi into the clouds to feed the combo. But be warned that the clouds will only stay on the screen for so long, and afterwards the will disappear. Before the clouds completely disappear if you start a completely new combo with a new color in a new net, as long as you do it before the last combo's clouds disappear you can continue the same combo!

Use this to cause massive chains to devastate your opponent. After you make a large combo you will send “garbage” over to the opponent in the form of sea urchins which will take up spaces on the opponent's field. These urchins can be rid of by connecting them to any color cloud with will result in the urchin becoming another cloud though it will not add to the combo. Using urchins effectively to extend your chain to colors not close by is a key strategy.

After a set amount of time if the match is starting to look like a stalemate the OctoOcto warning will sound. When this happens Octopus will start raining from the sky at a very fast rate, thus you'll have to act quickly in order to win! Finally, each character has a special attack which can be performed by using special crystals which can appear on your screen. When you see a crystal appear, attach it to any cloud combo and you will perform your character's specific special attack.
As you can see the gameplay has a lot of depth, and I personally don't think I have found every nook and cranny of strategy yet. Take this as only an introduction to the gameplay mechanics, as it can get a lot more strategic and interesting depending on the style of your opponent.

Graphics: 8/10

Cute. If there is one word that can describe the character design it would be cute. Each character is so colorful and cute, no one stands out, and the game's art style has a very light and happy tone. And the art style suits the gameplay and style very nicely, and is expected of a former Compile leader. If there is one thing they were good at doing it was making cute and interesting visual characters with their anime appearance and it definitely does not disappoint. I am however a little upset with the lack of detail with the rest of the game. Really the only graphical things you get are different backgrounds, and in all honesty there isn't really many of those. As you advance through the story you have a mini version of your character who interacts with other mini versions of the rest of the cast in order to talk to one another and progress storyline. Although it's all cute and dandy it really could've used more to flesh it out, but in the end it's a budget title, so it's understandable.

Sound: 6/10

Honestly this is where the game takes its biggest hit. Though the tracks are pretty good, that is, about all four of them, they are very short and repetitive. I admit that the music is catchy yes, but when a match lingers on for more than a couple minutes the music starts to get annoying, especially if you're focusing on it. It doesn't help that the soundtrack is made from really bad sounding midi. On top of that the sound effects are really lacking too. To make a long story short, you're not going to be hitting up your local gamestop looking for the soundtrack anytime soon.

However the one aspect of sound that is absolutely hilarious would be the battle quotes. Anyone who has played a game from the Puyo series will definitely know what I'm talking about. As you perform combos in the game your characters will say a continuous phrase. For example: “This is how…” ... “A samurai…” ... “Deals with…” ... “Octopi!”

It's even funnier when you cause a large chain reaction because your character won't cut himself off, he'll just say each line of his/her combo all at once. The quotes are pretty silly and almost make up half the motivation to even try and get a large combo going! It's because of this sound gets a 6/10 because I feel that these battle quotes are an essential part of the fun factor for this game.

Overall: 7/10

Last time I checked this game had hit a rock bottom price of $15 and even $10 in most big retailers. If you enjoy puzzle games or have ever enjoyed a Puyo game this might be a worthy investment. Honestly you simply cannot beat that price; you could buy this game for the same price as a trip to Starbucks for lunch. So if you see this title at your local store give it a chance, the cuteness and cheesy comedy might find a warm special place in your heart

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/08

Game Release: Octomania (US, 03/31/08)