"Disappointing compared to previous titles"

Planet Puzzle League is the most recent title in the Puzzle League/Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon/Whatever-you-want-to-call-it series. Unfortunately, if you've played any of the previous titles, you're likely to be ticked at how little this game has compared to the previous titles.

The basic gameplay hasn't changed: You match 3 or more blocks of the same color in a row or column, and those blocks clear, earning you points. If you match more blocks at once, you score a "combo", which is worth more points. If you clear blocks and cause additional blocks to fall and clear, you score a "chain" and score even more points. You can switch blocks with the stylus or with the control pad and buttons. A really weird gimmick here is that you hold the DS on its side, like a book, but you don't have to play the game like that. You can opt to hold the DS in the traditional manner, so that's not a problem. The main problem is that the blocks fall slower and explode slower than in previous Puzzle League games, meaning that for veterans of the series, scoring huge chains is now less challenging than it was before. And don't even think about telling me to turn up the difficulty level, because if I do that, then it's way too fast.

The game also has a number of different play modes, but most of them aren't all that interesting: Endless mode lasts until the blocks rise to the top of the screen. Due to the slow speed, it doesn't take much skill to keep the blocks from hitting the top for many hours and eventually score a million points. Same goes for Garbage Challenge, which is exactly the same as Endless except the game periodically throws garbage blocks at you. Garbage is easily cleared and if you know how, you can use garbage to your advantage to make your chains even higher. Score Attack challenges you to score as much as possible in 2 minutes. Garbage Attack challenges you to clear as much garbage as possible in 2 minutes. Lift Attack challenges you to clear as many blocks as possible in 2 minutes. All 3 timed modes are part of the "Daily Play" mode, which keeps track of your daily scores with a graph.

All this sounds interesting, buts it's really just the same game with minor variations in rules. There is a 2-player mode, but playing against the computer isn't fun at all seeing as you'll always win, no matter what. Pokemon Puzzle League had a better CPU than this game. There's also special blocks mixed in with the normal ones. These "Item Blocks", when cleared, set off Mario Kart-like attacks against your opponents. Just what I need, more luck and less skill. As for playing against other humans, well, you might enjoy that for a little while. Planet Puzzle League can be played online, so I guess that's a plus, but keep in mind that the blocks fall slower, so matches could wind up lasting awhile.

I mentioned that this game lacked what the previous games had. Well, in Puzzle Mode you must clear all blocks in the field with a limited number of moves. Now, what baffles me the most is that Pokemon Puzzle League allowed players to create their own puzzles for this mode, but Planet Puzzle League does not have this feature. If they included it before, why not include it again?! Then there's Stage Clear mode, where you clear all blocks that lie above the "clear line". Stage Clear mode is actually quite tedious, but it wouldn't be if Planet Puzzle League had "bosses" like Pokemon Puzzle League did. The bosses back then were defeated by hacking at their life bars with combos and chains.

Then again, they couldn't put bosses in this game because there is no theme in this game. Tetris Attack had a Yoshi theme, Pokemon Puzzle League had a...Pokemon theme, and Panel De Pon had its own theme. But Planet Puzzle League? All of the graphics are just random patterns that they came up with quickly. Wait, actually, there was one background that was carried over from the original Panel De Pon, but it's exclusive to the Japanese version. Yeah, that sounds fair. That means no classic music, either, just a few catchy tunes that aren't that great.

Also, there was a 3D mode in Pokemon Puzzle League. 3D mode turned the flat playing field into a cylinder. That meant more blocks and more opportunities for more points. And they didn't include 3D mode in Planet Puzzle League for unknown reasons.

Now for the storyline...um...THERE IS NONE. This might be a puzzle game, but Panel De Pon at least tried to have a storyline.

You might think I've been bashing this game without reason, but really, this is a good game. It just lacks what Pokemon Puzzle League had. Pokemon Puzzle League just came out on the Wii Virtual Console so that might be a better option. Otherwise, rent this game or find a good bargain. $30 is not worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/08

Game Release: Planet Puzzle League (US, 06/04/07)