The main complaint people have about this game is that it's on Apple Arcade, and yeah, Apple Arcade just doesn't have the same ease of access that Steam does, so it's a valid complaint... But hey! I have a Mac, and I had an Apple gift card to spend, so why not? I've been on a Madou Monogatari kick recently, and I needed a break from Madou Monogatari II's grindy dungeons, so here I am.
So, first impressions. Performance works great, at least on an M2 Pro. Audio is good, controls feel responsive, it works great in general. On the gameplay side, it's the same classic Puyo as always. You get some modes like Black Hole and Fever mode which is pretty cool, and the cast of playable characters is pretty cool (though most are locked behind story progress I think?). Very glad that Yu made an appearance in this game, she's consistently one of my favorite Puyo characters next to Harpy, Draco, and Witch. I find it hilarious how her line popping quote is just her going "OooOOOOooOOoooOoo!"
Adventure Mode is the main star of the show here, and it's a pretty alright mode; it's essentially just a bunch of mini-campaigns that branch off kind of like a New Super Mario Bros world map. It's essentially the "Story Mode" of the game, and it's how you unlock other characters. Given how some characters like Lemres and Dark Prince are locked behind a copious amount of Adventure Mode levels, it's not a great system, but some characters can be unlocked pretty easily via side-story keys. It's a flawed system for sure, but it also wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the Modifier gimmicks this game decided to add. Essentially, both you and your opponent (more likely your opponent than you) will start off with certain modifier gimmicks. These can be as inoffensive as "reduced Garbage Puyos recieved" to "only gets 3 color Puyos" or "randomly drops Garbage Puyos on opponent" or "you become Draco Centauros and CANNOT ROTATE PUYOS" or "ALL GARBAGE PUYOS TURN INTO A RANDOM COLOR WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE" (essentially giving your opponent or you a high likelyhood to score a wicked chain). In my opinion, some of these modifiers kind of ruin some of the otherwise fun Puyo battles this game has to offer, and that's a damn shame. At the very least you can skip battles for a measly 100 Points, so you'll never truly get stuck in this mode.
Closing thoughts, I do think it's a shame that this game doesn't let you start out with alternative Puyo skins, instead relegating them to the Point Shop. Historically, I've always struggled with telling apart Puyo blues and purples and since I can't input a cheat code like in Puyo Puyo Tetris to unlock more distinct Puyo skins, I– Hold on, there's a colorblind setting in this game?!?!
Colorblindness Rating: A+
This game actually comes with colorblind settings, holy shit! I know Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 added colorblindness settings in a later patch, but since I never got PPT2, this is my first experience with these settings and I have to say, you have NO idea how happy being able to play Puyo Puyo without worrying about mixing up the Puyos makes me. If you want a reference as to what the game looks like with the Tritanopia filter I had on, here is a post I made with two images attached. It makes the characters look like weird blue people, but if it means I can be at peace playing Puyo Puyo, I'll take it.
Thank GOD that Sega finally listened to the colorblind crowd, I could not be any happier, let me tell you.
So, first impressions. Performance works great, at least on an M2 Pro. Audio is good, controls feel responsive, it works great in general. On the gameplay side, it's the same classic Puyo as always. You get some modes like Black Hole and Fever mode which is pretty cool, and the cast of playable characters is pretty cool (though most are locked behind story progress I think?). Very glad that Yu made an appearance in this game, she's consistently one of my favorite Puyo characters next to Harpy, Draco, and Witch. I find it hilarious how her line popping quote is just her going "OooOOOOooOOoooOoo!"
Adventure Mode is the main star of the show here, and it's a pretty alright mode; it's essentially just a bunch of mini-campaigns that branch off kind of like a New Super Mario Bros world map. It's essentially the "Story Mode" of the game, and it's how you unlock other characters. Given how some characters like Lemres and Dark Prince are locked behind a copious amount of Adventure Mode levels, it's not a great system, but some characters can be unlocked pretty easily via side-story keys. It's a flawed system for sure, but it also wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the Modifier gimmicks this game decided to add. Essentially, both you and your opponent (more likely your opponent than you) will start off with certain modifier gimmicks. These can be as inoffensive as "reduced Garbage Puyos recieved" to "only gets 3 color Puyos" or "randomly drops Garbage Puyos on opponent" or "you become Draco Centauros and CANNOT ROTATE PUYOS" or "ALL GARBAGE PUYOS TURN INTO A RANDOM COLOR WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE" (essentially giving your opponent or you a high likelyhood to score a wicked chain). In my opinion, some of these modifiers kind of ruin some of the otherwise fun Puyo battles this game has to offer, and that's a damn shame. At the very least you can skip battles for a measly 100 Points, so you'll never truly get stuck in this mode.
Closing thoughts, I do think it's a shame that this game doesn't let you start out with alternative Puyo skins, instead relegating them to the Point Shop. Historically, I've always struggled with telling apart Puyo blues and purples and since I can't input a cheat code like in Puyo Puyo Tetris to unlock more distinct Puyo skins, I– Hold on, there's a colorblind setting in this game?!?!
Colorblindness Rating: A+
This game actually comes with colorblind settings, holy shit! I know Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 added colorblindness settings in a later patch, but since I never got PPT2, this is my first experience with these settings and I have to say, you have NO idea how happy being able to play Puyo Puyo without worrying about mixing up the Puyos makes me. If you want a reference as to what the game looks like with the Tritanopia filter I had on, here is a post I made with two images attached. It makes the characters look like weird blue people, but if it means I can be at peace playing Puyo Puyo, I'll take it.
Thank GOD that Sega finally listened to the colorblind crowd, I could not be any happier, let me tell you.