Tecmo Stackers (PS1) Review
System Playstation 1
Developer Tecmo Publisher Tecmo Genre Puzzle # of Players 1-2 Release Date September 1st, 1997 |
Pros
Interesting take on Tetris Decent challenge Cons Modes outside of arcade are lacking Sharp increase in difficulty |
Review
by Thonos
1/1/2016
Tecmo Stackers is one of those games that when I saw it I thought it would be a fun game. Games like this can be a risk since they look like knockoffs of other more established games. With games like this sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.
Tecmo Stackers at its core is a modified version of Tetris 2. Blocks drop from the top of the screen which can be rotated and manuvered to the ground. The goal is to match four of the same color together, it does not matter how they are grouped together as long as they are touching eachother. Where it differs from Tetris 2 is after you match four colors, any block that was touching the cleared ones shoots out arms into any open space around them. If those arms connect and match four of the same color, they clear and start the process over again. It is a neat and different take on the Tetris formula that adds a different type of thinking when planning your moves out.
The main mode in Tecmo Stackers is Arcade mode. This can be played solo against the AI or against another person. On each stage your goal is to beat your opponent by making it so there screen fills up until they have no more room for blocks to drop. This is done by chaining multiple color matches one after another. When this happens, depending on the amount of the chain, a number of netural blocks gets dropped on the opponents side. These blocks can only be destroyed by matching four of the same color around them or when the blocks shoot arms out around them. Likewise your opponent is doing the same to you and if your screen fills up you lose and have to start the stage over again.
One issue I have with this mode is how so much focus is put on getting chains. You can match four of the same color as much as you want, if you are not chaining matches together (ex. clear four which then leads to another four getting clear, ect.), your are never going to get netural blocks to fall on the opponents side. Another issue I had was with the A.I. difficulty. On the early stages the A.I. was not too bad, on later stages it becomes a chain combo master. This may not be a big deal to some, but from my experience at the later levels you need to think real fast and make few mistakes. Overall I found each aracde stage usually lasts between one to three minutes.
The game does have other modes outside of Arcade. Chain reaction mode is a multiscreen mode where blocks drop from the top of the screen and fall down through multiple screens to the bottom. The goal is to see how big of a chain reaction you can make. Insane mode In Insane mode your goal is to see how many blocks you can clear while the block drop speed becomes faster. Time Trial mode has five different difficulties and your goal is to fill up the other side of acreen as fast as possible by getting chain clear combos. Each difficulty has a certian amount of blocks already on your side which can lead to some quick combos. I found chain reaction mode to be useless while insane mode can be fun in short bursts. Time trial mode was alright except it seemed that when you pick a difficulty the pre determined blocks never change, only the ones that drop from the top of the screen.
Graphically there is not much to this game. The game backgrounds on each stage look bland along with the menu screens. The animated characters and blocks themselves look a little better, but not by much. To be fair, this is a puzzle game so I was not expecting great graphics. Sound effects were alright and the music is hit or miss. I got used to the music after awhile but I can definitely see how it can get on your nerves after a while with its tone and tempo.
Tecmo Stackers takes a different approach on Tetris which I found be be refreshing and fun. While I found the arcade mode to provide a decent challenge, most of the other modes seemed pointless. If you like puzzle games and the price is right, this is a game to check out.
Two Player mode was not tested for this review.
by Thonos
1/1/2016
Tecmo Stackers is one of those games that when I saw it I thought it would be a fun game. Games like this can be a risk since they look like knockoffs of other more established games. With games like this sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.
Tecmo Stackers at its core is a modified version of Tetris 2. Blocks drop from the top of the screen which can be rotated and manuvered to the ground. The goal is to match four of the same color together, it does not matter how they are grouped together as long as they are touching eachother. Where it differs from Tetris 2 is after you match four colors, any block that was touching the cleared ones shoots out arms into any open space around them. If those arms connect and match four of the same color, they clear and start the process over again. It is a neat and different take on the Tetris formula that adds a different type of thinking when planning your moves out.
The main mode in Tecmo Stackers is Arcade mode. This can be played solo against the AI or against another person. On each stage your goal is to beat your opponent by making it so there screen fills up until they have no more room for blocks to drop. This is done by chaining multiple color matches one after another. When this happens, depending on the amount of the chain, a number of netural blocks gets dropped on the opponents side. These blocks can only be destroyed by matching four of the same color around them or when the blocks shoot arms out around them. Likewise your opponent is doing the same to you and if your screen fills up you lose and have to start the stage over again.
One issue I have with this mode is how so much focus is put on getting chains. You can match four of the same color as much as you want, if you are not chaining matches together (ex. clear four which then leads to another four getting clear, ect.), your are never going to get netural blocks to fall on the opponents side. Another issue I had was with the A.I. difficulty. On the early stages the A.I. was not too bad, on later stages it becomes a chain combo master. This may not be a big deal to some, but from my experience at the later levels you need to think real fast and make few mistakes. Overall I found each aracde stage usually lasts between one to three minutes.
The game does have other modes outside of Arcade. Chain reaction mode is a multiscreen mode where blocks drop from the top of the screen and fall down through multiple screens to the bottom. The goal is to see how big of a chain reaction you can make. Insane mode In Insane mode your goal is to see how many blocks you can clear while the block drop speed becomes faster. Time Trial mode has five different difficulties and your goal is to fill up the other side of acreen as fast as possible by getting chain clear combos. Each difficulty has a certian amount of blocks already on your side which can lead to some quick combos. I found chain reaction mode to be useless while insane mode can be fun in short bursts. Time trial mode was alright except it seemed that when you pick a difficulty the pre determined blocks never change, only the ones that drop from the top of the screen.
Graphically there is not much to this game. The game backgrounds on each stage look bland along with the menu screens. The animated characters and blocks themselves look a little better, but not by much. To be fair, this is a puzzle game so I was not expecting great graphics. Sound effects were alright and the music is hit or miss. I got used to the music after awhile but I can definitely see how it can get on your nerves after a while with its tone and tempo.
Tecmo Stackers takes a different approach on Tetris which I found be be refreshing and fun. While I found the arcade mode to provide a decent challenge, most of the other modes seemed pointless. If you like puzzle games and the price is right, this is a game to check out.
Two Player mode was not tested for this review.