The Puyo Pop franchise is one of the longest-lasting amongst the puzzle genre. Sega has brought Puyo to many gaming systems and has won over hundreds of thousands of loyal fans. Released in Japan on the official Day of Puyo (Dec. 24), Puyo Pop Fever has received very little attention from importers and press outside of the Japanese region, but finally this game is making its way West. After spending many hours popping Puyos and dropping junk on opponent's screens, we're ready to serve up our full review.

Facts and Features:

• Cutscenes relay an oddball storyline as you progress
  
• Built-in tutorial teaches beginners how to play
  
• Various game modes for single and multiple players
  
• Multiple players at one time via download play (single cartridge)
  
• Save system for high scores

Presentation
Puyo Pop Fever, like most games, uses the touch screen for the bulk of menu navigation and option management. The menus are clean and easy to get through with just your finger or stylus. The d-pad and buttons can also be used if using the touch screen isn't your thing. Small buttons don't interfere with navigation and the menus are laid out in a logical fashion. Getting into your game mode of choice is fast and simple, something that's appreciated on handheld systems.

Cutscenes are numerous and the voices are just as cheesy as you can possibly find anywhere. The dialogue is funny, but most of the time you'll just be skipping the scenes to get into the gameplay faster. The graphics aren't anything to be wowed by, but they get the job done nicely as do the sound effects.

Gameplay
For those familiar with the Puyo Pop franchise they know what to expect in Puyo Pop Fever. The game has you dropping different colored blobs, or Puyos, and matching them up by color. If you can get four or more of the same colored Puyo to be touching, they will disappear, much like lines in Tetris or blocks in Lumines. By carefully planning the way you stack your Puyos you can play for large chains and combos. The premise is simple, yet it is wildly addictive and takes quite some time to fully master. One thing that I found odd was the way that Sega chose to use the two screens. Instead of making use of the entire upper or lower screen for gameplay, only half of the upper screen is where the action takes place (in multiplayer obviously more is used). Basically one-fourth of the DS screens combined is used for gameplay. It's strange that with more than twice the available screen space available to use, that the DS version of Puyo uses less space than the GBA version. After a few minutes, however, you'll adjust quickly. Check the screenshot below to see an example of the screen usage in single player mode.



Easily the greatest strength of the title lies in the varied gameplay modes; they are as follows:

• Single Puyo Pop: Single player vs. computer. This mode contains 3 difficulty levels and a training "free battle mode."
  
• Everybody Puyo Pop: Create a room, enter a room, play with up to seven computers, or play with up to seven friends via download play. Computer players can be added to multiplayer games for up to a total of eight players.
  
• Endless Puyo Pop: Single player mode with three different ways to play. Fever mode has you creating large chains to extend your time limit, Mission mode has you performing tasks given by the computer, and Original has you playing without any timers or specific goals. All these single player modes are similar to each other, but different enough to offer a unique experience that's much appreciated.
  
  An option menu allows you to further tweak the settings beyond the specific game modes, making this the most versatile Puyo Pop yet. I greatly appreciated the number of game modes and the amount of customization allowed within each mode. Control freaks will be appeased.