Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on Playstation 3 Review
Category: Playstation Network, Reviews
Tags: capcom, super puzzle fighter II turbo hd remix
Playing Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was the moment I finally realised that puzzle games can be exciting. Prior to that I’d always been of the impression that puzzle games are certainly great for a 5 minute blast, but less so for a long playing session.
Puzzle Fighter changed that mainly because of it’s combo system. Basically your premise is to guide similarly coloured square shapes into each other so you can make huge fuck off squares and then detonate them with a circle. It sounds really simple and in premise it is, but mastering it is actually a lot more difficult than you think.
Throughout the game you will have to make choices as to whether to detonate a small group of colours or whether to save them and build them into a bigger combo. All the time your opponent (be they computer or human controlled) will be making combos of their own and sending “blocker” squares over to your side. Blocker squares are coloured boxes that have a timer inside them. They cannot be detonated until the timer runs to zero which usually takes five turns.
It’s simple and strategic but as you can imagine as you get onto the harder levels it gets insanely tough with opponents seemingly making combos faster than the Millenium Falcon can fly.
The HD Remix download that is available from both Playstation 3 Store and XBOX Live Arcade (I’m reviewing the PS3 version here) costs £6.99 and is the same game that you may have enjoyed on the SEGA Saturn or arcade. Essentially the only difference here are the visuals which have been redrawn in HD and thus look fantastic. Sadly the character models that stand in the middle of each battle have not been redrawn (WHY!?!) and look completely out of place. It’s sad because the game would look gorgeous otherwise.
On offer are characters from the Street Fighter series (Ryu, Ken) and the Dark Stalkers series (Morrigan, Hsien-Ko). The music is a brilliant mix of cheesey J-pop/rock and will certainly keep your toes tapping until you can take no more.
An online mode has been integrated but sadly few players seem to indulge in the PS3 version of Puzzle Fighter and thus you’ll rarely find an opponent. When you do the game runs lag-free and is excellent fun against other human opponents.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is excellent value for money. Probably my favourite puzzle game of all time I have a huge tilt of bias in favour of this. A game like this can never feel dated because the gameplay is so satisfyingly simple, howver, puzzle game sceptics are advised to be cautious when purchasing this.
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