Fortress

"Tetris meets Rampart"

Anybody here remember Tetris? Remember how you spent hours on end playing it whether it be for your Nintendo Entertainment System or your portable Gameboy? Sure Tetris was a great game, but did you ever think about taking the game to the next level? Say....making those blocks stack up and then destroy your opponents blocks with little weapons? Well if you ever thought that then boy do I have a treat for you!

Majesco has released a great puzzle/strategy game that takes Tetris one notch higher in a game called Fortress. Fortress is a building block game in which you must build a fortress and towers out of blocks that resemble Tetris blocks. Confused? Well it goes a little something like this:

1.) Use Blocks
2.) Construct blocks together
3.) Forms parts of the building

Easy enough? Well that's just the beginning of the game. When you first lay a block out it is still in grid form. This means you can see the block disected into squares like many of you know from Tetris. In order for the block to turn into part of the fortress you must put them together without holes inside the fortress to a nice 2x3 pattern at the least to get the fortress going. When a single square or what not is still remaining this can cause trouble. An opponent may attack that single brick and turn it into rubble. Rubble is bad, very bad. Any bricks you try to lay on a rubble area turns into rubble itself making an even bigger mess. If you build up to a chunk that is 3x8 blocks then you can build a Tower that create's creatures, by little Twerp Wizards, that go to your opposing teams fortress and starts bashing away at it cause some significant amounts of damage. Such creatures range by their stage:

1.) Prehistoric Age - Flying Dinosaurs
2.) Medieval Age - Flying Dragons
3.) Pirate Age - Flying Parrots
4.) Space Age - Flying UFO's

What does these ages mean? Well the only thing that the ages do is give the game more variety. Kind of like tetris and the way it changes the color of the blocks on different levels or the ability to change your own music!

Hold up man, what's the point of this game?! I guess I was to busy flying off at the mouth to explain. The point of the game is the challenge between you and your opponent. The opponent can either be the computer AI or link up to battle against a friend. You are placed right next to your opponent on the right or left side that is indicated by flags. You can get more space by moving the flags. How do you move the flags? Well you have to build blocks near it to make it expand. The more flag space you have the more fortress space you can build and the less your opponent has the opportunity to build on. The main objective is the score. Each game starts out with how much you want to go for in points. The average is usually 10,000 - 12,000 points that can be earned by having a significant amount of blocks that have turned into buildings or towers. To get points, simply turn your bricks into part of the fortress and/or destroy some of the enemy's place.

Sound easy enough? Don't get ahead of yourself to fast boys and girls cause the Learning Curve for this game is easy and annoying at the same time when you first start playing. This is usually what makes or breaks the game, the learning curve. Some players won't bother playing a game if it's to damn hard, but also won't play the game if it's just to easy. The curve for this game is easy to pick up on easy mode, but hard to master on hard mode. Best thing to do is play a few rounds on easy mode to get a feeling for the game.

The best thing about this game is the ever famous Twerps!! These guys rule with their hooting and a hollering. I love just turning up the volume as I fling a Twerp at my opponent and hear him scream ala Goofy from Disney. These guys both make and break your chances of winning. Twerps are those little guys on the box that attack or help build your bricks. You can have only about 4 weapons which are represented as 2x2 bricks and about 4 barracks which are also 2x2 bricks. It's always a mystery which one you'll get when you see the next brick sign. The weapons fling boulders, cannon balls or plasma pending on which Age you play. These weapons aim for your opponents bricks turning them into rubble and/or totally destroying a brick. Once a brick is destroyed it's gone. This can cause trouble if one of those bricks was part of your tall 3x8 Wizards Tower that heaves creatures at the opponent. Fear not these little Twerps have barracks that spout out little Twerps to clean up the damaged blocks and repair them all neat and nice so you can still have your Wizards Tower or what have ya. A good offensive weapon is the bomb symbol. Other then the weapon and barracks, the 2x2 next block also reveals a bomb symbol that lets you have a 1 time hit with a Twerp. This is not only my favorite part of the game, but great for you. You have an aim target that lets you sweep over the enemy and target his bricks to destroy or destroy one of his weapons. The great part of this weapon is the long scream they make when you use him. Why? Because the weapon is non-other then your own Twerps!!

This game has some good graphics, nothing spectacular compared to today's consoles, with great handheld graphics that are a step up from Tetris. The simple character design of the creatures from the Wizard Towers are great along with the Twerps themselves.

The sound of this game is quite funny with the Twerps. The Twerps just love to scream, hoot and hollar during the course of the game in a cartoonish matter that will just make ya either laugh or get really annoyed.
The replay value of this game is great for anybody that loves puzzle games like Tetris and Tetris clones and games like Fortress that make it challenging and addicting for hours on end.

Now that i'm done with this review i'm sure most of you are asking. Should I buy, borrow or rent this game? I say that you shouldn't waste your time renting or borrowing cause this game will be played more then you can rent and unless your friend doesn't know he has Fortress, borrowing this game will make ya made you didn't buy it after you have to give it back. This has got to be on a rare list of games, but I say you should go out and buy it.

Story: 4
I'd say this story gets a 4. There really isn't much to the story, rather a simple addicting puzzle game that will keep you entertained for hours on end.

Graphics: 7
The graphics of this game are a solid 7. While not overly impressive at all, they are simple and to the point of what the game is trying to show the gamer.

Sound: 8
This game has got to have some of the best sound effects I've ever heard on Gameboy Advance. The Twerps hooting and a hollaring keep me on the edge of my seat cracking me up. The background music is good for the age and after playing for a few hours, I have not gotten sick and tired of it like most music. While not the best sound, the sound fits the game greatly and deserves an 8..

Gameplay: 8
What can I say about the gameplay hmmm... all the way a 8. This has got to be one of the most addicting games on my gameboy I have played since Advance Wars. The simple strategies yet endless learning curve will keep you playing for hours on end trying to be the best. The only downfall is the curve you have to learn when first starting out, so make sure to read that manuel.

Controls: 6
At first the controls are quite odd to figure out and the gameplay suffers when you are confused as to what to do next, but after you figured it out, it's quite simple and easy.

Replay: 9
Now i'm not one to say a game has lot's of replay value because I have one of the worlds shortest attention span *ask my past teachers* and never play a game more then an hour. After playing this game for 3 hours straight and not getting bored of it at all, I say this game is worth every penny, even if I did only pay 10 bucks for it at a K-Mart close out!

Overall: 7
I wish I could give it higher, but I wish there would be alot more options! I really hope they come out with a sequel to this game for the GBA and/or the Gamecube. I think this game is worthy enough for one once you sit down and play. However, if your not a big puzzle fan at all, steer clear of this title as it will leave you confused and dumbfounded.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/03, Updated 04/02/03