Tringo (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

There's no question that there are fewer GBA titles being released now due to the phenomenal success of the DS and while major releases are still produced for both formats, original titles are almost non-existent. It's perfect timing then for new European developer Liquid Games who aim to bring new and unreleased titles to the games hungry GBA audience. Better still they're all at a budget price making an impulse purchase all the more likely. Tringo is a puzzler and this genre has always been popular with developers for two very simple reasons. Firstly, they are comparatively easy to create with generally a programmer and designer knocking them up in their spare time. The other reason is money as if you happen to hit the right idea then you may just have another Tetris on your hands and we all know how that turned out for the original GameBoy don't we?

Gameplay

The basic objective here is to build up a series of blocks into a much larger mass. The greater the mass the more points you will receive. These are formed from random Tetris-like shapes but unlike the classic puzzler you can't actually rotate the shapes but you can simply skip them although this will incur a seven-point penalty. The grid you have to fit all this into is a relatively small 5x5 but as your creations keep dissolving it's never really an issue. The single player game can be approached in three very different ways: Classic, Time Trial and Infinite. Time Trial is pretty self-explanatory and gives you a one, two or three minute game time. Infinite lets you play without time or piece restrictions with the added challenge here being the solid block, which is placed randomly every 3 turns. The plus side to this is that some pieces also come equipped with bombs and placing them alongside these blocks destroys them. This adds an extra element of strategy to the whole thing and is made even more challenging by the reduced time limit to place each piece. Classic Mode restricts you to 35 pieces with the objective being to attain the highest score and follows the same rules as the first two. As a bonus there's a (rather awkward) facility to save your high scores and a Multiplayer (which only requires one copy of the game) but this really is for serious puzzle heads.

Controls

As with most puzzlers the control is simple. Select exactly where you want your piece to go and apply it. The only downside to this overwhelming simplicity is that after only a few sittings you'll want to rotate the pieces, which sadly you can't. Whether this is deliberate in order to make the game more challenging is certainly up for debate but the fact remains that it's inexplicably absent.

Graphics

Puzzle games have always been about clarity as opposed to cutting edge visuals but the problem Tringo has is that there's not a great deal to play with, The artists have done their best by painting the backgrounds with a variety of images but it's still far from a game highlight.

Sound

The various soundtracks are a little generic and, on the whole, nondescript but at least they are pleasant enough to listen to.

Final comments

There's no question that Tringo is a classic 'pick up and play' title and even people with very little gaming experience should grasp the concept in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately this is also its undoing and, with only a handful of modes, puzzle enthusiasts are likely to tire of the whole thing in only a few sittings. The multiplayer saves this to some extent but if it wasn't for the budget price it's unlikely that Tringo would get a second look.

Pro: Simple Concept, Single Cart Multiplayer.
Con: No Rotate Feature, Not Enough Single Player Modes.
Final score: 5.5

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