STACK #196 Feb 2021

STACK

GAMING REVIEWS

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PUYO PUYO TETRIS 2

PUZZLE MULTIPLAYER

OUT NOW

The collision of the greatest Russian export since vodka, Tetris , and possibly the cutest puzzle game ever from Japan – yes, we know that’s a big call – Puyo Puyo gets a second outing in this appropriately named game. OK, so we all know what Tetris is. But you may be wondering what the heck is ‘Puyo Puyo’? It, too, is a puzzle game

that, while let out to play in the west variously as Puyo Pop , Kirby’s Avalanche or

WHAT'S THE STORY? A new story adventure mode harks back to events of the first crossover of the two puzzle phenomena. It’s a dialogue-heavy tale of people falling from space and being cutesy and… look, it’s fun and it has fabulous voice acting, available in English or Japanese.

to-head play relatively fair. If you have a preference, there are enough modes where you can avoid the other game altogether – but you’d miss out on a whole lot of fun if you were that boring all the time. Still, at start-up you can just plump for classic, vanilla Tetris or Puyo Puyo , so all bases are covered. Modes abound, online and for up to four players in local split- screen. There are six challenge modes, plus another six arcade levels and a couple of lessons if you feel the need to brush up your skills. So yes, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is a collision of two classic puzzle games. It takes the utilitarian Tetris , gives it a wonderful anime makeover, adds its own ace puzzler, and delivers one of the best puzzle releases ever. Yep, ever. AF

even Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine , is something altogether more supernova in its native land. It’s basically a blocky colour matching game, too, but as the pairs that continually drop are made up of blobby characters, they split when they hit other blobby characters, rather than staying whole. While different – one demands line clearance, the other chains of colour clears – the two games are complementary enough to make head-

PLANET COASTER: CONSOLE EDITION

ACTION ADVENTURE MULTIPLAYER

OUT NOW

Bringing the theme park simulation game thoroughly up to date, Planet Coaster arrives on consoles with full support for the new generation. The game’s concept is straightforward – you’re given a series of theme parks to manage… and they’re often in a sorry state. Your goal is to fix the park’s problems, be they choice of rides,

state of repair, layout and flow of the park, the price of rides versus customer satisfaction, and the amount of fear your coasters generate. Yes, fear’s a metric – too much and your punters will stay away, but without enough they’ll go home disappointed.

GOING THAT WAY… REALLY FAST! Aspiring coaster designers have been able to create, build and test their own for 22 years, thanks to video games. The Rollercoaster Tycoon series got things rolling, reaching a pinnacle in 2004 with the third series entry, the first by Frontier Developments. They revisited the concept in 2016, resulting in the PC release of Planet Coaster .

scale – so once you’re done tormenting your guests, you’ll be equipped to make them happy (and scared) on a grand scale. The game’s move to console is largely a great success. This was a mouse-and-keyboard PC game through-and-through, yet developers Frontier have managed to transition it to consoles faithfully. Like almost all console versions of games like this, there’s a pretty steep learning curve, but if you’ve played sim games on consoles before (like Frontier’s own Jurassic World Evolution ) you’ll quickly feel at home. If you love your sim games, love your theme parks, and especially if you love both, Planet Coaster: Console Edition is possibly the best thing to grab while real-life theme parks are a little more out of reach than usual. AH

You initially build a neon merry-go-round and discover that it’s somehow the most popular ride in the park. As you tweak its admission cost the queues grow, the Sims - like murmurs of joy from the customers are tangible and, if you shut the ride down, the crowd walks away, heads hung low in disappointment. It’s a neat preview of how the whole thing works, just on a smaller

16 FEBRUARY 2021

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