Columns

"A nicely animated, fun Tetris clone."

While this game may seem like Tetris all over again, it's not. It runs on the same idea Tetris runs on, with a little twist on it. Instead of making rows of blocks, like Tetris, you must get 3 jewels of the same color on vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. It may sound rather difficult, but it's not at all.

Control: 10/10

The bare minimum, which is good. You don't need to hold the 1 and 2 button plus up on the direction pad to get the jewels to switch position. No, all you need control-wise is the direction pad plus one button. To get the jewels to move around, use the direction pad. To get them to switch position, press either 1 or 2.

Gameplay: 9/10

This game is very fun to play. It is nice and challenging, and it has many levels to beat, each of which get faster as the levels progress. But, with almost every game, it can get boring after a while. But, most likely, in 45 minutes, you will see yourself playing the game again.

Graphics: 4/10

Okay, so there are no FMV's in this game. The graphics in this game are nothing to write home about, but they suit the game's purpose quite well. The little artwork on the side of the screen on the left looks very nice, when it gets to night time, it looks pretty neat.

Sound: 6/10

The sound is nothing spectacular, either. When the blocks hit together and there are 3-same color blocks in them, they make a weird sound. Besides the music playing in the background, which isn't too great, either, that's about it. But, who said the sound has to be great to make the game great?

Re-playability: 10/10

While this game may fall short in a couple of areas, this is the one section where it truly shines. Like Tetris, no two games are ever the same. So you can be confident that this game can keep you entertained, because the blocks will never appear in the same order after you play a game.

Final Note

This game was released by Sega as an answer to Nintendo's highly successful Russian puzzler, Tetris. Although it did not achieve the same amount of fame as it's rival did, Columns was well received by most Sega and even Nintendo fans, and with good reason. With it's challenging levels, and fast-paced game style, Columns is the kind of game that will keep you interested even a hundred years later.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/02, Updated 07/25/02