Game Publisher: AVE, Sublicensed from Sachen, Unlicensed

Year: 1990

Type of game: Falling Puzzle

Players: 1

Story: CHALLENGE THE EGYPTIAN QUEEN OF FUN!      My name is Dr. Otto Spetalbonky, on this day August 19, 1992, we have made what may be the most profound archeological [how it was spelled in the book :D]discovery of the 20th century!
     Near the Nile River in the Valley of the Shadow we have uncovered the tomb of Queen Lera-Di'-ty, the mysterious Queen of fun.

     For years I have searched in vain for proof that King Tut was the first todevelop music similar to todays Rock & Roll. My quest has instead led tounequivocal proof that ancient Egyptians were the first to play games.

Ripped from NESWorld, with corrections by me, the manual on NESWorld is currently flawed.      My take on the story: Okay, you are a desperate programmer, working for the soon to be bankrupt AVE, you need a good hit so what do you do? You rip off the infamous Tetris game and make up a story that was done by someone who decided a game that shouldn't have a story needs one. I have no idea why anyone wants to add a plot to a puzzle game, the only puzzle game I've ever seen had one was Tetris Attack, and that was because they wanted to cash in on the name Yoshi.

     For those of you that are wondering, I normally don't do reviews of recently-received games, I haven't even touched any from my Funco order I got last March. This one is like only two months old, but I decided a puzzle game is a puzzle game and it is easy to tell how long its game play fun will last, so I might as well review it.

     This game was shortly released after Tetris, and as you can tell if you play it, is a major rip of it, from the style of play to control to the look of the layout, almost everything is cloned with the exception of the game pieces. Sadly, since it was unlicensed, this good puzzle game probably got paid little attention. When you first start it you'll see the name Sachen, then it goes to the screen with the title and copyright info, music and level select, and some odd skulls, why they put them there no one knows, maybe the programmers belonged to a cult. Some people see it as a difficult Tetris but from what little I played it I did better than I did at Tengen Tetris, pretty odd, I got the third level once on Pyramid, whilst on Tetris I only got to stage two. [I dislike most puzzles anyway, can't stay on them long enough to get good.]

     Another bonus on this game is you get five "bombs", which help eliminate mistakes by vaporizing those not well thought-out pieces, easy to position and excellent for keeping you in the game, you get a extra five for each stage and if you clear a triple row you get one more.

     I also found that they misspelled Archaeology, pretty shabby [but funny] operation if you ask me.

Play Control: A

     Very similar to Tetris, what am I saying, they flat out ripped the coding off from it. Occasional mistakes like pushing the d-pad too long make the piece go out of landing position, but that learning curve is in most puzzle games anyway.

Graphics: B+-

     Not too much to say,[its a puzzle game], neat look of the Sphinx. The pieces look good, but it seems that hit detection is a little off since the pieces are so small and "have to fit so tight".

Sound: C

     Well this game does have some good sounding S.E., has a digital voice in it,[real stratchy]. The landing of the pieces, most of the sound effects are good if not limited to about five effects in the entire game

     Serious problem with sound in one area, it appears that this game was really rushed, because on my copy if you click music off, start a new game and use a rocket even after the rocket blows away a mistake you still hear the shriek of the rocket,[more like a continious beeep], which is not pleasant after three minutes. Major distraction and flaw in a easy to find problem gives this game a bad [well more like less-than-average] rating in this category.

Music: A-

     Music is very good, has a excellent theme for the game, well recorded, would have scored better if they added more than three tunes and gave you a option on which to play. For the music they have one theme at the beginning title, one for use in most stages, and it appears when you get to a real speed up stage they give you another theme. That's it but what little they give for music is excellent.

Theme and Fun: B

     Just a new version of Tetris, but if you want a variant it provides a cheaper alternative to the Tengen brand. Would score higher with two players.

Frustration: B+

     This game does those cheap shots most puzzles do,when it gives you a large amount of useless pieces at one time. That will ruin anyone's gaming day and increase bloodpressure. For relief get out hammer, find common SMB/DkHnt cart, and whack around until relieved.

Repetition: B+

     As with any game, you'll want to use moderation. Well this one is the same, but if you like the Tetris style while bored with the old block version, get this for some new excitement. Jut different enough so you can stay in the puzzle gen. and still close enough to pick up quick, and I bet get good at fast. If you alternate between the two games, you should be able to develop your skills better whilst not being bored with only one version.

Challenge: A+

     Doesn't get much harder than this, but I bet puzzle fans do better.

Replay Value: B-

     Although I just got this game, and have little idea how long it will be good, it is a puzzle game, and with which you'll likely play like mad for the first three months, then put it up for a year or two, then play in moderation for the rest of your life. I know that's what I do with most of my puzzle games.

Final Pluses:

     Puts a interesting twist on the puzzle and Tetris style, with a new non-Russian theme. Stage select is not bad and the music is top notch.

Final Minuses:

     Don't know if it would be a minus, but a two player version would be cool, but a lot of the pieces are already small, so they would have to do a lot of re-working from this version to make another screen fit. More music would have been nice, but they used all the Arabian themes I know, don't know if their are any more.

Changes: From this version, don't see much that can be done, a 2-player mode would be nice, so would placement of pieces,[which wouldn't exist with two player]. I guess this version is good enough, somewhat lacking in options but good enough.

Overall B+

Pretty neat game, for being rare and unlicensed, very little new but the original idea has nothing that really needs changed. really

Final Note: although a clone of other common and easy-to-get puzzles, get this game, for being unlicensed, rare, and being made under AVE is a good buy.

Value: I got my complete copy for fifteen dollars, I would say ten loose, and fifteen to twenty complete due to its rarity and fun style of playing.

Related Games: Closely related; Tengen brand Tetris, Nintendo brand Tetris, Tetris and DR Mario [SNES], Related, DR. Mario, Palamedes, Yoshi's Cookie, Tetris Attack [SNES].