Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is a puzzle game developed and published by SEGA for all current gaming platforms and will come to Microsoft Windows in 2021. This game has a lot of different game modes and various types of playstyles. Included in the list is a Campaign Mode that showcases the various styles of play using a JRPG form. In the campaign, you awaken to find the characters from the world that uses Puyo Puyo has merged with a world that uses Tetris. With no memories of each other, they use this as a chance to head out on an adventure finding new friends and the person behind everything. The campaign leans heavily into the cutesy anime theme, using both English or Japanese voicing, and the silly cartoonish dialogue will especially keep the younger audience entertained.

There are six game modes to try out, from your standard Tetris and Puyo Puyo, to the popular Swap, Big Bang, Party, Fusion, and the new Skill mode brought into the campaign which brings in the JRPG style. The new Skill mode has both players battle each other, intending to reduce the other’s health bar to zero, along with companion skills that help you or hinder your opponent. As well as item cards that you can collect and equip your team to boost their strength. This brings a new level of fun and difficulty to the game to hopefully spice things up from the first game.

Swap is an interesting mode that during the game your Tetris board will switch to Puyo Puyo and vice versa until there is a winner. Big Bang has pre-set Tetrimino and Puyo stacks, clear the stage as fast as you can to be victorious. Party has random items show up to make things interesting, and with no life limit all you got to do is rack up those points. Fusion in my opinion is the most interesting and hardest mode bringing the two games into one, let us just say it is a multitasker’s dream.

All these game styles can be played solo against a CPU or you can take your skills to the world in the multiplayer menu. You could just have a friendly match, or you could try and become the world’s number one in tournament matches. SEGA has boasted a better experience with multiplayer however I tried but was unable to find a match. Since then, though, I did watch a stream of a guy playing the Multiplayer Modes and I think I would need a lot more practice to accomplish any sort of feat.

As I was saying above this game leans heavily into anime from the voice acting, the look, and the sound. It was maybe a little too childish for my liking but from a non-boomer perspective, it would be rather good. Did someone say customizations, no, well too bad cause there is and quite a bit from different character clothing styles to in-game emotes and text lines to communicate with other players. This adds the reward system to the game, earning enough points gets you better customizations. I must admit though its colourful and overly cheerful personality helps sway some of the frustrations when you are on a streak but make one error and ruin everything.

I got pretty frustrated playing some of the modes not so much from the game itself more from the controls. I do not know how many times I accidentally hit up on the d-pad which shoots your pieces straight to the bottom ending a lot of my streaks or ruining my combos.

All in all, however, it is a pretty decent puzzle game giving a lot of unique and interesting games with hours of content. It may not be my thing, but I do love me some Tetris and will definitely have some more use from me when I get that puzzle urge.

Written by: Adam Brasher