Recent reviews by Phosphatide

Puyo Puyo Tetris is that one game you may have heard of from SEGA that reached grand levels of popularity. Combining the thrill of Puyo Puyo (or Bean Machine, Avalanche, whatever you're familiar with) with Tetris multiplayer into one neat little package, there's plenty of fantastic story to experience alongside solid gameplay. Many people joke about how PPT is the next big fighting game, and after playing the game you too will see how much those jokes are actually based on reality.

I'm already a big fan of Puyo Puyo Tetris, with hundreds of hours of gameplay clocked in for the Switch version. After a few hours of playing the PC version, my thoughts can be summarized as such:

- Yes, it has Denuvo. If that's a deal-breaker for you, there's not much anyone can say to convince you otherwise anyway.
- If you've been wanting to play a new Puyo Puyo game, or perhaps an official Tetris game that isn't garbage and is actually good, you may already be interested in Puyo Puyo Tetris. If you don't already own the game for a different console, the PC version is a decent consideration at this time.
- If you already own PPT for a different system, hold off the PC version for now.

Note the lack of confidence in recommending this game to anyone, especially newer players. At the time of this review I've only hit 3 hours, but the number of issues I and plenty of others have experienced indicate that the PC port is not the best it could or should be. The game runs absolutely fine on all other systems, so it's a bit disappointing to see this new port immediately have problems.

- The game may experience sluggish performance, which is not ideal for a fast-paced puzzle game.
- Online ranked matching is sometimes restricted to the region you choose to represent, meaning you might never see a player to fight against.
- You can turn off certain modes for ranked mode so they never show up for you. Unfortunately, the game will occasionally ignore your settings and make you play a mode you turned off.
- Free battle mode, where you set up a room for others to join, is busted. No one can seem to find any rooms that are available despite other members of the community saying they've opened one up; some have had luck after restarting the game a few times.
- Various audio issues are present, such as poorly looping BGM tracks or incorrect voices for characters in matches.
- Some users have reported game crashes; I have yet to experience any myself at least.

I do not blame you for holding off purchasing this game at this time if the above issues sound like too much. However, if you are fine with experiencing single play modes to enjoy Puyo Puyo and Tetris without needing to bother with online modes, the game now should be sufficient. SEGA lately has been pretty good at making sure their game releases aren't terrible, so PPT for PC will likely see some fixes in the near future.

For now, the game is playable. I just hope this PC version gets fixed so it can catch up with its currently-superior console siblings.

I was incredibly excited for this game so naturally I was ready to slam the button to purchase the game the moment it released. Unfortunately, it looks like Bandai Namco was serious when they listed having an i5 CPU, 6GB RAM, and an ok integrated graphics card as "minimum requirements" for the game.

I basically have those minimum requirements and the game runs like molasses. Nothing like watching Pac-Man truck along through the maze while the timer menacingly ticks away at a rate of 2 seconds per 1. Loading times are horrendously long, even taking like 3 minutes just to reach the title splash screen. Who knew Pac-Man would be so demanding as to needing an i7 to function?

Gameplay-wise, I managed to get through only the tutorial after a grueling 20-30 minutes due to the game eating up 2.5GB of my system memory while running. From what I was able to play, it's definitely a different feel than the precious CE games. The game tries a bit too hard to look flashy, which can lead to a lot of breaks in flow during play. CE was a very intense take on the classic, while CEDX became a high-tension maze runner with score attack in mind. CE2 instead embraces a "beat the clock" system where your new goal is to just clear all the levels and the boss. It'll take some time to get used to if you are a fan of CE and CEDX, but so far it just feels weird. Of course, if your computer can actually run the game smoothly I'm sure it'll help.

If your computer has the power to run Steam VR then you're pretty much ready to play and try out this new game. Otherwise, I have to say I cannot recommend this game until there's a complete overhaul in the game's efficiency allowing a proper playerbase to exist. I have since requested a refund for the game since I can't even play it properly anyway.

The second game in a series about saving the world in only half a minute has once again won my love in only half an hour. All the gameplay you know and love from the first game is back and upgraded just a tad for more dynamic fights without losing its original feel. If you've played the first game you'll have a good time seeing some subtle callbacks, but if you're jumping into the series with this game you'll still have a grand time; skipping the first game in no way makes the game any less fun.

Outside of fighting, there's so much to be done. Weapon crafting, skill leveling, bonus content you purchase using gold saved up from missions, and so forth. It's so easy to climb your way up to 100% completion and yet so difficult to successfully achieve that goal with such a large number of tasks to complete. You won't be left feeling like you didn't have enough to do.

Plus there's a leaderboard for benchmark testing the game on your computer so you can compare your results to other players for whatever reason. How can you not love this game?

With a good story and an engaging "combat" system using a clever word puzzle game that evolves as you upgrade your weapon, this game is top notch. The upgrades also require skill points that you accquire by finding new enemies, so you're encouraged to seek all 99 of the spirits in the game. There are also side bosses that demand the best of your combat skills, so don't worry about there not being enough to do.