Quarth (Famicom) Review

Quarth (Famicom) Review

Date Released: 13 April 1990

Date Played: 17 January 2022

Introduction:

Quarth is a quirky game developed by Konami.  It's a mixture of a 2D puzzle game like Tetris combined with a vertical scrolling shmup (or so Wikipedia would have you believe).  It was originally released in arcades back in 1989 and was known as Block Hole outside of Japan.  This version released for the Famicom is a good port and is a ton of fun to play. It's very tiring to play though and your fingers will be begging for mercy, so break out your NES Advantage Joystick and get your hands all limbered up, because you're going to need every bit of dexterity that you can muster.

Gameplay:

You play as one of two ships that are completely identical other their appearance.  One is a standard space ship that appears to be decked out for battle and is basically as generic as possible.  The other one is a cute lunar lander capsule that's being carried by cherubs and totally awesome and unique.  I love it and have no idea why anyone would ever choose the boring old space ship. On this same screen you can select which of the 10 levels you would like to start from (like Tetris).  Each of these have increased difficulty and if you start from the beginning, get ready for the long haul because it will take a while and the tendons in your hands will be screaming. Still, it's nice to be able to pick up where you left off without having to spend a bunch of time playing through the same easier stages over and over again.

Gameplay is unique and I don't know of any games quite like this.  It does share some similarities with other games in terms of concepts and execution, but it's really its own thing and I'm surprised it isn't more well known.  Your ship sits at the bottom of the screen and can move left or right as the screen slowly scrolls upwards.  Instead of enemies to shoot, you will encounter various quadrilateral (squares and rectangles for those of us who haven't had geometry in a couple of decades) shapes with missing pieces.  Your ship shoots blocks instead of bullets and your goal is to fill in the missing pieces of the rectangles.  When a rectangle is made whole, it will vanish and award you with points. This is obviously very similar to Tetris as you have to train yourself to recognize patterns and prioritize which blocks to clear first. The trick is to find groups of rectangles placed together and chain them into one huge block for a bonus score and to clear the screen faster. One technique that you'll need to employ if you want to succeed is to realize that the screen stops scrolling as the blocks are cleared.  So, if you clear a large block for a big score bonus, you'll have several seconds of the screen scrolling being frozen.  This is your opportunity to try to clear the remaining blocks on the screen.  Keeping these clears chained together is essential to have time to deal with everything and if you're not able to clear the blocks fast enough, and they reach the line right above your ship, you crash and lose a life.  Once you're out of lives, it's game over.  There are several powerups to assist you. They have abilities that range from stopping the scrolling, giving score multipliers, or even destroying all blocks on screen. It's a fantastic system and is a perfect example of easy to learn and difficult to master.  You'll know everything you need to after only a couple of minute and is a perfect example of pick up and play arcade fun.

As mentioned above, there are 10 levels broken into 10 sections each and clearing each one will advance you to the next.  Difficulty ramps up very quickly and by stage 3, things will start to get pretty tense and hectic for the average gamer.  When using a joystick, you'll find yourself quickly tapping the fire button in rhythmic patterns as you tap the joystick to move quickly around the screen.  The way you control the joystick feels a lot like the Magical Drop series of games and if you were to watch someone's hands without knowing what game they're playing, you would have a tough time differentiating between the two.  I'm not sure how anyone can make much progress on this game using a standard controller because you'd have blisters on your fingers in no time.  You have to input a ton of commands at lightning speed even on some of the lower levels and it's very impressive to watch someone truly skilled have a go at this game.  Typing this review right now, my wrists are still tight and sore from my previous play session.

There are some 2-player cooperative and competitive options if you can get a friend to play with you.  They're a lot of fun and can get pretty intense during a heated play session.

Presentation:

Quarth looks pretty decent for a puzzle game from the 8-bit era.  You don't want things to look too busy because you need to read the patterns on the screen at lightning speed, but everything is colorful and vibrant. The backgrounds, borders, and blocks all have pallet swaps between stages and while overall aesthetics are sparse it really helps in the graphics department.   The music that accompanies the game is decent enough and has that trademark Konami feel, but it certainly isn't one of their best and even after hours of playing this game with the same couple of tracks repeated over and over, I can't even recall what they sound like or if there's a catchy melody. It's almost as if it went in one ear and right out the other.  Not a good sign for a game with such addictive gameplay. Still, as basic as the presentation is, it doesn't do anything to hinder the amount of fun you'll be having.

Conclusion:

This is a great little game that I'm surprised not more people know about.  It never left Japan on the Famicom and the only Western release (outside of the arcade) that I know of is on the original Game Boy.  I'm sure plenty people played it there as Konami was probably trying to cash in on the puzzle game craze that was brought on by Tetris being the pack-in game for the Game Boy, but I've never heard anyone mention it. It's a shame that it wasn't brought to the NES because I think it would have been a fairly popular game.  It's a ton of fun even if the music is a little lackluster and playing for more than a few minutes is super hard on your hands .  Other than that, my only complaint about the game is that I don't really see the shmup comparison.  If the screen just fell downwards like in Tetris rather than your ship flying upwards, no one would ever remotely consider comparing it to a shmup. Still, I see what Konami was aiming for and I commend them on an original concept even if it was a little harebrained.

If you're a fan of puzzle games or tense and twitch based arcade gaming, you have to give Quarth a try.  It's an underrated gem for sure.

Final Status: Played (I could clear up to stage 6)

Final Score: 8/10 (Pretty Great)

Tetris Effect (PS4) Review

Tetris Effect (PS4) Review

Released: 9 November 2018

Played 28 December 2021

Introduction:

Tetris Effect was released to critical acclaim back when it came out in the autumn of 2018.  I remember seeing it on many best game of the year lists, and I'm pretty sure I remember it winning basically ALL of the best VR game of the year awards.  It was boldly named after the phenomena that compulsive Tetris players experience when they devote some much time and interest to the game that it begins to invade their thoughts and dreams to the point where they keep playing the game in their mind subconsciously. This arrogant statement on part of the developers and publisher was nothing short of a gauntlet being thrown.  To just come right out and declare this iteration of the game to be THAT addictive took some guts. After all, we've seen Tetris released again and again over the last 3 decades.  What new ideas can this game bring to the table to revitalize the the aging franchise?  The answer, surprisingly, was that it didn't need to bring much.  All it took for most people was to slap a fresh coat of paint on game we've all visited countless times. Basically, Tetris Effect is just plain old Tetris with pretty backgrounds, bright colors, interesting visuals, cool sound effects, and bumping tunes that can be played in VR.  For some fans, this was just a cash grab and didn't offer anything worthy of a new release.  For others, it was an, "emotional and spiritual" experience that touched them deeply.  I was curious to know where I would fall.

Gameplay:

Other than a few slight changes, this game is just... Tetris.  There are the same five pieces that come falling down from the top of the screen and you have to flip them and arrange them in order to make complete lines.  Once you do this, the line is cleared and disappears.  The more lines you clear at once, the more points you earn.  Slowly, the game speeds up more and more until the pieces fall at lightning speed and you attempt to survive as long as possible to increase that high score.  In the upper right, you get a preview of the next piece that will appear so you can try to plan your moves and last a little longer.  Returning is the mechanic where you can chose to holster a piece and save it for when you most need it.  Whether this is for a huge scoring opportunity or for survival is totally up to your skills at the game.  In addition to the basic gameplay, there is a new Zone mechanic to add a little more variety and freshness to the experience.  As you clear lines, your zone meter fills up.  Once it is full, you can activate it to basically give yourself "bullet time" for a few seconds.  This causes the gameplay to slow to a crawl and allow you to try and clear out the detritus that has built up to this point.  If you do well while using this zone mechanic, you can rack up an even bigger score and maybe even save yourself from a game over. It's a helpful mechanic for sure, but I couldn't help but feel that the developers could have been a little more original in spicing up the gameplay.  We've seen the slow-down mechanic in countless games in the past and it feels a little too on-the-nose in this circumstance.

There are several different modes in the game to add some longevity to the package.  The main campaign mode just takes you through progressively harder and harder stages and is the main event where most people will spend the majority of their time.  In addition to this are modes that let you see how many lines you can clear in a set time period, or see how many points you can score in a set number of line clears, etc.  There's pretty much a mode for every variation of Tetris you can think of, and if you're a huge fan of the gameplay, there's plenty here to keep you busy for a long time. Other than the clear conditions, the gameplay remains the same in all of the modes that I tried. I feel like this was another missed opportunity to add some additional flavor to this side of things and I was honestly a little disappointed by the lack of content here.

Presentation:

The presentation is where Tetris Effect attempts to set itself apart form all of the other Tetris games that came before it. It takes the 2D Tetris board, and surrounds it with striking scenery and visuals.  You may be on a beach, flying through the air, sitting at the bottom of the sea, or being bombarded with fireworks.  As your eyes are being overloaded by the bright colors and gorgeousness being thrown at you, a spectacular soundtrack attacks your auditory system to pull you completely into these environments.  Not only that, but the colors, sounds, music, and scenery all change and ebb and flow to match your gameplay and the current mood.  When you play this in VR, it really is a magnificent experience unlike anything I've seen before.  It is incredibly immersive, beautiful, and thrilling at the same time. I have to fully commend the developers on what they've done here to make these environments so spectacular. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the visual experience is one of the finest I've ever seen in any game and it's a true marvel through and through. The soundtrack and sound design is no less wonderful and ranges from ambient and minimalist soundscapes to pumping tribal themes.  Each song builds and synergizes with the visual extravaganza to transport you to another world. The big question is, "is this a world you want to visit while doing something as banal as playing a game of Tetris?"

Conclusion:

I'm almost at a loss for how to describe this game.  It's just such a weird and bizarre concept.  The best way I can describe the whole experience is to say that... it's like being at an EDM festival... while playing Tetris.  Picture yourself surrounded by thumping music, flashing lights, bright colors, and a palpable energy that surrounds everything and threatens to send you into sensory overload; all the while you're looking down at your Game Boy and playing Tetris.  Personally, I think Tetris is a great game.  It is without a doubt the most important puzzle game ever made, and is still probably the best.  Also, the sights and sounds of this game are spectacular and can truly transport you to a new and amazing place.  But, unfortunately, these two ideas are at odds with each other in my opinion.  It's difficult to fully let yourself be absorbed in the VR experience because your eyes and attention are so focused on the 2D Tetris game going on directly in front of you.  And it's sometimes difficult to focus on the game of Tetris that you're trying to clear while pops and bursts of color and exploding all over the place and distracting you. 

This also leads me to the second issue of this game being at odds with itself.  Tetris is very addictive by design and there is a big urge to keep playing.  Even the title of this game acknowledges this concept. So, you find yourself playing a highly addictive game in this immersive world that you don't want to leave.  But you're wearing a VR headset... and anyone who has ever used one of these before will not hesitate to tell you how uncomfortable they can get after a while.  My head, neck, and eyes were so sore after playing this game for an hour that I just couldn't go any longer.  Luckily, I didn't experience any motion sickness.  But, no matter how much I wanted to keep playing, I HAD to put the game down after about an hour and give the VR a break. Even if you want to keep going... you just can't.

At times Tetris Effect can be a calm and relaxing experience and at others can be a breakneck, heart-pounding, and tense one.  If you really want to sit back and just enjoy Tetris for half an hour or so, this is probably the best way to do it. Maybe if I were more into the EDM scene, I would have been able to say that this game was the, "Emotional and spiritual" experience that some others had felt.  But, while beautiful and immersive, I can't honestly say that the game game anywhere close to that for me.  In the end, it really is just Tetris with pretty backgrounds. 

Sadly, I feel like this game is the perfect example of the opposite of synergy.  The sum is less than that of its parts.  Tetris Effect is the best puzzle game of all time set in one of the most visually appealing and engrossing VR experiences of all time.  But these two things don't work together to elevate each other and the whole experience doesn't bring enough new to the table to revitalize the genre for me.  It also doesn't help that playing this game in VR, which is the preferred way, is not comfortable for long sessions.  So, even if I loved it, I couldn't play as much as I would want to.

Final Status: Beaten (campaign cleared)

Final Score: 7/10 (Good)