I hate Tetris. There. I said it. And every ounce of that statement is true. I do not understand how arranging blocks of four is fun. It quickly becomes boring to me. After five minutes, I fall asleep. However, I have been playing a new puzzle game lately that doesn’t bore me at all: Droplitz.
The premise behind Droplitz is perhaps as simple as a puzzle game can be. You have these dials that move in a clockwise motion on the top of the board. Every time it hits the “6” position, a drop of water is released — or “droplitz,” if you prefer. From that moment forth, you have to rotate four different types of dials (X, Y, L, I) to make certain that the water gets to the bottom of the screen. Oh, and did I mention that you only have so many drops of water to start with? Or if enough fail to reach the bottom of the screen, it is “game over”? Well, that’s what happens if you fail to play well.
But that makes it sound like it is unbalanced. In a way, one could argue that it is. As you connect the dials across the board to a “reservoir” (I cannot think of a better word to describe it), the game will automatically show the path the water takes to reach it. From that point, you cannot rotate the piece. On the plus side, it gives you more time to make more connections. Once a purple drop of water reaches it, the traveled dials disappear and are randomly replaced with new dials as the game slowly speeds up.
Yep, the board is randomly made and randomly replaced. Randomization is a tricky element. If things are too random, it becomes a burden to play as one can never tell what is going to happen next. But if things are not random enough, things become predictable and suddenly stale, and it quickly becomes repetitive much more quickly than it should. Personally, I feel that Droplitz finds that happy medium, especially if there is no solution available. It’ll reset the board. Sometimes it leans toward the random edge but never so much that it becomes unplayable or feels unbalanced.
There are four modes to play through, and they pretty much all play the same — with minor variations. All have nine different boards of various sizes. Hypothetically, the larger the board, the higher the score. I digress. The first is the original mode. This mode sets the tone for the modes you’ll unlock. Next is Zendurence mode. Essentially, you play the game at the same speed for as long as you can. Out of all the game modes, I think this is the hardest because it takes awhile to find a groove. In all the other modes, you warm up on the slowest setting, slowly melting into the board. Instead, it marches at a stately pace whether you are ready or not.
The third method of gameplay is Power-Up mode. This is essentially the same as the original except you get ... power-ups. Yep, the good ol’ stereotypical power-ups are present, and all four (freeze, bomb, a missile that destroys the entire board and slow-down) have their strategic purposes. It does add a needed mix of “action” into the game. Plus, it adds an interesting question: How interesting could the game become if more creative power-ups were used? The fourth and final mode is Infection. In this mode, tiles become “sick” and rotate more slowly than their “well” counterparts. The only way to remove those “sick” tiles is to connect them to the reservoirs. It adds a lot of tension as I quickly wondered if I could create enough pathways fast enough for the drops to follow.
Of course, none of the different modes would matter if the controls were horrid. In this case, they are not. Instead, there are three different sets of buttons to rotate the dials, activate powers and fast-forward the purple drop to the reservoir. Arrow keys are used for movement regardless of which keys you prefer. In fact, I would argue that the control setup on the keyboard is perfectly intuitive. But if you find the keyboard is not your thing, you can always use the mouse. So there is bound to be one method of control you prefer.
Droplitz is pleasant to look at. The menus are cleanly laid out, and there is never any doubt of which mode and board you have chosen. Furthermore, everything — from dials to drops — is clearly identifiable in the rush. Different themes appear as you play through the different modes, each with their own feel. There is the traditional blue theme with its basic approach. Tree leaves and vines are seen in the forest theme. And my favorite theme is the ultra cool and soothing Coffee theme, complete with tiny coffee cups.
Sound in Droplitz is appropriate. You’ll hear drops of water, clicks of dials and the rattle of the chips surrounding the board. There is music, but I never really paid that much attention to it. The gameplay held my attention so well that I blocked out the music. I will admit that it is not perfect, but it all works together to make a pleasant experience.
Overall, Droplitz is a fun puzzle game. When I first got my hands on it, I couldn’t take my hands off it. I was absorbed in the gameplay. I love it! If there is one thing I am disappointed in it is the Zendurence mode. It doesn’t let you warm up, set your own speed or even set the initial droplet releaser positions. Also, it is important to note that this game is hard. Really hard. So be prepared to practice a few hours to learn to hold your own.
Go check it out. For $10, it is one heck of a deal. Atlus had enough foresight to see that puzzle fans (and a ton of other gamers) would enjoy it and rightly sold it at the perfect price. I love Droplitz. I think this means I found my Tetris.
