"Another one of those gem breaking games?" is what you probably think. It's got originality in presentation and play style, though. You don't have to be a Capcom fighting game fan to like this game. It's a good, solid gem breaker that's becoming a classic.
The game play is simple enough. There are four different gem colors: red, blue, green and yellow. You always face someone else and try to make them fill their field up first by breaking as many gems as possible. You can do that by lining gems of the same color up to make a big chain or block of them. They wont break unless your drop a "crash gem" of the same color on them, though. Crash gems fall down randomly with the other blocks. You can make huge lines and blocks of gems if you do it right. If you wait too long to break them there's the risk that your opponent will put "counter gems" on top of them to keep you from getting it broken, though. When you break your gems, the same number of gems you broke falls on their side in the form of the previously mentioned "counter gems" that come in the normal four colors. These are blocks that start from 3 or 5 and count down one time each time you drop blocks on your field. Once the timer runs out on those blocks they become normally usable gems. While they're still in counter form crash gems can't break them. Only diamonds which will break every gem on the field that is the same color as the one you hit it with. You can set crash gems on the counters and wait for them to run out to set up possible big combos, though. Each of the 11 characters has a different color pattern for the counter gems that they drop to add variety.
The graphics are great. Each of the 11 characters has their own background setting. Between the playing fields you have the two selected characters (which are drawn super-deformed). Each time you do a little combo they say things and on bigger combos they will do special and super moves depending on how big the combo is. When your field starts filling up your character starts looking increasingly tired/unhappy but if your opponent's field is being filled while yours is empty they will stand their and laugh or look cocky. Some animations are especially funny like Ken with his hands at his hips having a good belly laugh. They're only there for show but it adds to the coolness of the game a lot, in my opinion. Really dresses it up and makes it that much cooler. The gems are pleasing to the eye, too.
Sound is another good category, even for GBA. The songs sound the best in the arcade or on another system but they are still nice to listen to on GBA. I still find myself bobbing my head along to some of the tunes. The sound effects are great, too. From hit effects to lots of gems breaking it all sounds satisfying and adds impact. The character lines are all there and nicely done.
Control is a no brainer . . . left and right moves your blocks in those directions, select taunts, the B and A buttons rotate blocks and holding down makes the blocks go down faster. Easy as pie.
The fun part of this game is you have to go as fast as you can to set combos up and try to bury the opponent in gems and make him panic before he can do the same to you. It creates a frenzied feel to it as you're trying to get rid of the counter gems that are dropped on you while you're trying to uncover that huge combo you see at the bottom. It's a great feeling when you set up a huge combo and watch all these gems break and get dumped on your opponent while your character attacks the opponents. Very addicting and a great 2 player game and even good for 1 player since there are a lot of things to unlock to keep you busy. It's also good for a quick play when your bored, of course. All in all I'd have to say it's my favorite gem dropping type game. It has a lot of personality to keep it interesting as well as having a great formula. I'm very fond of it.
//Russell
