Shanghai

"How could you not like this game?"

I have been a puzzle game nut for a good long time. Shanghai has always been one of my favorite games in that genre (second only to Tetris.) For those people who have been living under a rock and don't know what Shanghai is it is a game that is a variant of Mah-Jongg. It uses tiles with different images on them and you have to match pairs and clear them from the layout. Trust me, this is harder than it sounds. It is a game that has an unbelieveably easy learning curve but is mext to impossible to master.

Graphics: 8/10
Not too bad the tiles are small and kind of hard to see at times but other than that the colors are good and it has a cool picture of a dragon on the title screen ;) This game really was never meant to be graphic intensive.

Sound: 9/10
This is one of those games were sound really dosen't matter at all. Most of it is just beeps and stuff when you select tiles. There is music which isn't that bad but when you play the game for any length of time it tends to get more than a little annoying.

Controls: 10/10
Move the cursor, point to a tile, press a button... 'nuff said.

Replay: 10/10
There are 7 different tile layouts which give the game some nice variety. Also the chances of getting the same tiles in a given layout more than once are VERY slim. You can play this game for hours and not get bored... that is if you like this game to begin with.

Options: 9/10
As I mentioned earlier you can select from 7 different tile layouts. And the real plus is the fact that you can turn the music OFF when it starts driving you slowly insane. Also you can get hints for available matches, this is handy for when you stare at the screen for 5 minutes and don't see any. The only thing that they could have added would be the option to shuffle the tiles when you run out of moves. Other than that one lacking option everything is great.

Buy or Rent:
Considering that nobody rents Lynx games anymore (actually I don't think anyone ever did but I could be wrong) you would have to go out and buy this game to play it. You can probably find it on Ebay for $10 or so. I would say it is well worth it.

Overall: 10/10
This game is incredibly fun and almost never gets boring. If you own a Lynx and don't already have this game then go out and buy it, you won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/01, Updated 05/28/01