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Trioncube Review

To this very day it is in my opinion that the greatest game ever is Tetris. No other game offers the simplicity yet challenging nature that Tetris offers. Trioncube makes the effort to capture some of the simplicity, adds in a little twist and throws in some unlockable items to leave you coming back for more. The goal is to create a 3×3 block with the shapes that are dropped. Instead of reaching a certain amount of blocks cleared or a certain level, your goal is to create enough energy from cleared blocks to power your spaceship to travel a certain distance or sometimes to catch up to a rival ship. Sound weird? That’s because it is.

As with most if not all puzzle games, a premium is not placed on the graphics, so you can never go into a puzzle game hoping to have the most state of the art visuals because you will always come out disappointed. The graphics that you do get are cartoon like, nothing really new, and nothing that will make you forget about some of the cooler looking games on the DS, but if you factor in the additions of “wallpapers” that you can purchase with your earned money you’ve got a pretty nice looking game.

The audio is on the same level with the visuals. It isn’t winning any awards for best looking game of the year. It’s not so bad that you regret listening to it, but you’ll feel okay if you don’t. It’s forgettable despite being somewhat catchy. What I mean by that is that you may find yourself humming one of the tunes twenty minutes after turning the game off, but you won’t keep humming it two hours later. Again, it’s not half bad, which is to say it’s mostly good, but sometimes good is just that. It’s not great.

Again, the play mechanics consist of making blocks of 3×3 as long as you can continue to make a block as such you can continue the chain. Break the chain and those blocks disappear and you get a boost of energy to power your spaceship. In the story mode your goal is to find the princess. Along the way you’re chasing after her captors, trying to escape her captors, or attacking weird creatures. Yeah, like I said before it’s weird. It doesn’t need to make sense; it’s a game, who needs a cohesive and functional story to play? Not me. You can play in a few different modes, though they’re all the same for the most part, and unlike many other puzzle games like Tetris playing in marathon mode provides no challenge as you increase or at least not for me. In fact I played for well over an hour and got nothing in terms of a speed increase or those “garbage” blocks that get in your way. I actually had to end my own game otherwise I would’ve kept going for several more hours. That’s not exactly what you want from a game. Even the marathon mode in Tetris DS ends at a certain point. Overall, it’s not a bad game, but it seems to have spots within that would be better if they were more fleshed out and polished.

Where most if not all puzzle games tend to shine is in the replay category. Trioncube is no exception. If you want to unlock all the various wallpapers and sound effects within the game you’re going to be playing for a long time, and you’re going to need to try all the different play modes. It’s not hard to unlock these things, but they will consume much of your free time if you’re looking to get everything.

Final Verdict

What it comes down to in my opinion, whether it’s fair or not you can decide on your own, is how does this game compare to the legendary Tetris; King of all falling block games? It’s not bad, but it leaves a lot to be desired. If you’re looking for an alternative, this isn’t a bad solution, but it’s not the King. Still, some may like the cartoon-like look to the game and the various unlockable items that can be earned throughout. Personally, I already have Tetris and this won’t supplant that game anytime soon.

Score

5.0 out of 10

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Trioncube Review

Related Information

Posted by: Redeema
Date: March 23, 2007
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Developer: Namco Bandai Games
Website: NamcoBandaiGames.com
Release Date: 02/20/2007
Genre: Puzzle
Number of Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: Everyone
System Reviewed: Nintendo DS

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