Gunpey DS (DS) (gamespy)

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Here's a bit of a history lesson for you. Gumpei (sometimes spelled "Gunpei") Yokoi was an employee at Nintendo. During his time at the company, he was responsible for such creations as the Game & Watch LCD games, the Kid Icarus and Metroid series, and his most popular creation, the Game Boy. He was also the mind behind Nintendo's infamous flop, the Virtual Boy. About a year after that system was released, Mr. Yokoi left Nintendo and started his own company. He then designed a portable system known as the WonderSwan, which would eventually be released in Japan by Bandai.

Sadly, Mr. Yokoi never saw the release of the WonderSwan, as he was killed in an automobile accident before the system hit stores. As a sort of memorial, Bandai released a puzzle game that Mr. Yokoi had conceptualized for the system and named it Gunpey. Because the WonderSwan only saw the light of day in Japan, most American gamers have never seen or even heard of Gunpey. Now, Q Entertainment (the folks behind Meteos) and Namco Bandai have upgraded the game and are giving it another chance to win over gamers.

Given the game's sentimental background, it's kind of a bummer that it's not all that fun. It is, however, a welcome change from the standard "falling-block" style of puzzle game. In Gunpey, a series of four different types of lines rise up onto the playing grid. There are two different diagonals, a V shape, and an inverted V. The goal of the game is to rearrange the shapes to form a single line that connects the left and right side of the grid. When you link the two sides, the completed line glows for a bit and then disappears. If a line segment goes past the top of the screen, the game ends.

Lines, Lines, Everywhere Lines

It sounds simple, but to complicate matters, you can only move pieces up and down in their separate columns. During the time when a completed line is glowing, you also have a few moments to connect other line segments to it. If you can get these divergent lines to connect to the grid's edge or back onto the original line, they'll disappear too, earning you bonus points.

While the PSP version of Gunpey is heavily inspired by the look and feel of Q Entertainment's popular Lumines, the DS version ditches the techno-cool vibe in favor of a bizarre "anime cowboys in outer space during Mardi Gras" motif. It's not nearly as flashy as the PSP version, but this look is strangely appealing in its own right. Still, the goofy visuals aren't quite enough to mask the mediocre gameplay. Despite all the various types of line chains you can create, there just isn't enough depth to keep things interesting. It's also endlessly frustrating to have a completed line nearly ready to go except for an empty column that, thanks to the randomly appearing shapes, you're stuck with.

Even though there are a few different gameplay modes, none of them offers much variety. The meat of the game is in Frontier mode, where you face off against a series of computer-controlled opponents. Perform well here, and you unlock new characters, stages, and extra goodies that you can play with outside the main game. Stage Attack challenges you to clear a set number of panels in a level. You can adjust the speed and other settings in this mode. Endless is a "play 'til you lose" affair, and Time Attack gives you a limited amount of time to rack up as many points as possible. Unfortunately, you're given such little time that the action never gets very interesting.

Both Endless and Time Attack mode can be played in "Double Screen" mode. Here you're essentially playing two games at once, forcing you to swap between them with the shoulder buttons or by tapping an onscreen icon. Actually, the touch screen control is one big advantage that Gunpey DS has over its PSP brother. Using the PSP's D-pad to swap the panels is somewhat cumbersome, but sliding panels up and down with the stylus (a la Meteos) feels perfectly natural.

Keep Your Friends in Line

Gunpey DS also features a Vs. mode that you can play with the DS's wireless capabilities. There's not a lot of meat to it, though, so expect to tire of it quickly. The game keeps track of the profiles of people you've played against, but it's a shame that you can't play against another player online -- having a vast variety of opponents would add some longevity.

When you tire of the game, there are a couple extra bonuses to mess around with. G-Note's Gallery is part Lemmings and part virtual pet. Using the four line panels, you create a path for the diminutive G-Note to wander around on. As you play the main game, you unlock new moves for the little guy to perform (like cartwheels and sneaking). It's a cute diversion, but there's no substance to it. For a more involved extra, check out the Sound Box, which is a surprisingly deep music mixer. Although you can save your custom music, you can't incorporate it into the main game, which takes away a lot of its value.

Even with those couple of extras, Gunpey DS feels kind of empty. If you're itching for a DS puzzle game, you'd be better off going with the vastly superior Tetris DS or Meteos. Only the most hardcore Tetsuya Mizuguchi fans will be able to put up with Gunpey's repetitive gameplay for long.