Viewing Thread:
"Puzzle Madness"

There is a huge variety of different genres that appeared on consoles of all sorts over the years, Thers been sport sims, hack’n’slash adventures, horror games and the like. New genres have also enveloped from developers mixing two or more separate genres. This is how games such as Metal Gear Solid have seen the light of day. So with such a wide array of genres there is bound to be some that are considered rather niche. Many would consider PUZZLE GAMES one of those genres.

So, puzzle games then. Immediately Tetris springs to mind. And puzzle games are always bound to be compared to the game that effectively started the genre. And this is where the main flaw lies. People who like tetris are likely to have a bit of a soft spot for puzzle games, while people who don’t like tetris will immediately associate any puzzle game with it and walk past to the shelves full of Tomb Raiders and FIFA’s.

Lets just have a look at puzzle games and why is it that they are usually ignored by the masses. How do we define puzzle games? I would describe them as “software that requires a presence of mind and involves players making logical decisions depending on the on-screen action”. It is a known fact, that challenging the human mind will undoubtedly help them exercise their mental abilities. Children, who have been engaged in doing word searches and crosswords since young age, are more likely to do better in school. Puzzles also exercise memory and employ people in activities that will be of assistance in the future. These may range from simple pub quizzes to selecting a future career.

So puzzles are definitely a good thing, for youngsters and adults alike. But is it possible to actually convey the feeling of solving a problem such a crossword into a videogame. Ah, here is a good question. And the answer is NO. There is simply not enough incentive to invest into games with a limited amount of questions and answers. This could be the reason why Who Wants To Be A Millionaire didn’t really interest Christmas shoppers second time round. Fair enough, there is software that accommodates a certain number of crosswords and other word games. But these never leave their doomed spot in the Educational Department of PC games somewhere in a dingy corner of your average games shop. And hardly anyone buys them anyway.

So developers who have evidently been approached by the management with a simple request to produce puzzle games to fill a blank space in the consoles directories, had to think of something very different to grab the attention of the media and most importantly the gamers themselves. The obvious thing to do, without breaking into much sweat was to take the idea of Tetris, change the gameplay slightly and churn it out on the market just to satisfy those retro maniacs. But Acclaim have gone one better and actually made a good puzzle game for the newly released PSone. The game was called Bust-A-Move and it involved shooting coloured balls to stop the rows of balls ascending on top of your miniature character. It was involving, fun and the 2-player mode kept people coming back for more. 2-Player modes later became an integral part of puzzle games-it was extremely addictive to play and the biggest reward of them all-beating your mate in a video game. Official PSone magazine have even claimed that Bust-A-Move was “Quite possibly the most addictive game in history of all things”. Nothing beat its two-player mode until the mighty ISS series came to helm in 2000. The game generated two sequels and the new Worms:Blast for PS2 uses BAM’s idea to move away from the strategy gameplay and move it towards the party game direction.

Another type of puzzle games, which is especially popular in Japan is Mah Jongg. It is an ancient Japanese game where the players have to match pairs of illustrated tiles and try to outscore their opponent. This was also a great idea for a console game, which unfortunately didn’t quite take off outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. The PSone also saw a number of chess simulators that involved an array of game modes to make up for the obvious lack of a human opponent.

Then in autumn of 1998 came the game that, in my point of view, re-defined the genre and took a completely fresh approach to games. The game in question is Kula World, and it involved the player guiding a beach ball through a series of sky-prod levels, trying to find keys and then unlock the exit all within a set time limit. Levels included several objects that could give the player extra time or other special abilities such as faster movement or secret pathways. The visuals were fantastic, the music was calming and you just had to feel that you are playing something special-a feeling thet Metal Gear Solid would incorporate just a mere 6 months later. It was such an original idea, that all games magazines praised the game as being one of the best of its genre. But again, it didn’t really get the attention it truly deserved. Why? Yep you guessed it. It was a puzzle game…

So what have people got against puzzle games. Some say they are boring, some do not find them addictive enough and some just say “ah..not my bag”. But I got my own opinion. I think that people do not want to play puzzle games simply because they find them too challenging. They would rather prefer to shoot some zombies heads off rather than bother themselves with a bit of thinking. And yes puzzle games can be frustrating, yes they are the ones more likely to cause aggression if the person cannot find the needed solution. But they are undoubtedly the most rewarding games to play. Telling yourself that you have solved a difficult puzzle using your own logic and wit, is extremely satisfying. But they are only a selected few that would want to spend their evening playing a game of chess, exercising their mind and attention to smallest details. The opinions of those against puzzle games are interesting. The word puzzle immediately creates an image of a difficult, mind – melting and usually un-rewarding experience. Those who come home from work late, and just want to relief the stress and the pressure of every-day tasks, do not want to think any longer and just spread themselves on the sofa and stare into the television for an hour without moving a muscle. Puzzle games would probably even depress them more (especially if they are not good at games).

But despite all that, there are still people who care about original quality games have nothing against a few brainteasers. And considering that video games provide a refuge from the real world’s problems, puzzle games can be considered as personal challenges that players want to overcome in order to get satisfaction and enjoyment. And games developers need to consider that. Puzzle games is a niche genre and it probably will be a niche genre for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean that companies need to neglect the needs of gamers. It has been proved that games like Kula World can overturn peoples opinions about puzzle games and make them that little bit more interested in them. And considering that the PS2 has only had 1 proper puzzle game in yep you guessed it Super Bust-A-Move plus two more games that fall into a miscellaneous category: Fantavision and Aqua-Aqua, it is important that Sony think very carefully about satisfying their customers. Only games such as ICO and Fantavision is a truly original idea, and in the age of new generation consoles and people complaining about sequels, it is about time developers started producing good puzzle games. We all know they can be fun, we all know they can be extremely addictive and providing enough thought has been put into them, puzzle games can become a major genre in the world of video games.

When I bought my psx all those years ago, I read many magazines and one game that caught my attention was Bust-A-Move 2. I was looking for something that my missus would enjoy playing as well so I went and got it and was amazed.

It is such a simple game to get into and can be so addictive once you start to play, we spent many hours on it and it was responsible for getting my better half interested in playing the odd game, this made my life easier !!

In the days when PSX was still not that common we would sometimes stick it on when people came over for a game and as a consequence of playing Bust-A-Move, my Dad, my sister and our hairdresser all bought playstations and BAM.

I have played various demo's of games such as Kula World and Kurushin but none of them have had the instant appeal that BAM did. I still have it and still play it from time to time (After reading this post I will probably get it out tonight !)

When I bought my psx all those years ago, I read many magazines and one game that caught my attention was Bust-A-Move 2. I was looking for something that my missus would enjoy playing as well so I went and got it and was amazed.

It is such a simple game to get into and can be so addictive once you start to play, we spent many hours on it and it was responsible for getting my better half interested in playing the odd game, this made my life easier !!

In the days when PSX was still not that common we would sometimes stick it on when people came over for a game and as a consequence of playing Bust-A-Move, my Dad, my sister and our hairdresser all bought playstations and BAM.

.

puzzles games can be addictive depending on the quality of the game. but some can be so hard tht u get bored. tetris was probably the most addictive puzzle game. although i do not tend to like puzzle games myself, there are some tht are good. and there are puzzle games inside other games in which you have to solve something.
nice topic mate. some very good points.

Another day.
Another banned JAT

Nice work SR people :)

So any more replies guys?

*

Thanks for that BAN ME. Your wish is my and SR's command.....

Thanks but I sense no replies with actual opinions on the matter...

*

I sense a GAD winner.