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Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2
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Graphics & Sound:
The launch of the new Minis series on the PlayStation Network has come without a huge amount of fanfare, at least in terms of general media advertising. We expect to see new campaigns making their way to at least fan mags soon, but players can go right now to download bite-sized games like Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 to their PSP or PSPgo systems. "Chapter 2?" you may be saying... One thing about the Minis series is that it will allow Sony's mobile gamers to finally tap into the rich fruity goodness of casual gaming, with a storage footprint that all but the stingiest memory-card budgets can support. Clocking in at a teeny 21 MB (for comparison, Patapon 2 was what we would have previously considered a "modest" 361 MB!), Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is smaller than some of the gameplay videos or themes you might have downloaded in the past. It's not important that you know where the series has been to enjoy this second installment; it's mahjongg, for goodness sake!
Players of this ancient tile game will understand that visual appeal is a big part of things, and Mahjongg Artifacts doesn't disappoint. We would always like more tile sets, but the few available here are nicely done. Themes include Asian and other exotic influences, plus a rather alien-themed tile set that plays into some thematic elements later in the game. The music and backgrounds are sublime and relaxing, a great complement to the laid-back style of mahjongg itself. After you've cleared the main story, come back to customize your play experience by choosing a tile set, a background, and even a custom layout. We thought some of the layouts looked like well-known objects, including a few Pokemon, but we might just be imagining the resemblance... Between levels in Quest Mode, you'll see a story developed in panel style, as in a comic- or manga-style treatment. We liked the attempt to build some excitement on a rather staid and established game; we didn't need the story to enjoy the game, but fans that hold their casual gaming entertainment to higher standards will appreciate having another layer beyond the tiles. |
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Gameplay:
Needing an explanation to play mahjongg may seem strange, considering the game has enjoyed enduring popularity for over a hundred years in the west, and at least that long in China and the east. Discerning gamers will know that Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 is more accurately identified as a variation on Mahjongg Solitaire, rather than the main mahjongg game based on dealing tiles and building winning hands through special tile groupings. The same basic concept of a "meld" using particular tiles carries across both games, and is the basis for winning in Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2. At the outset of each level, you'll be faced with a constructed board of tiles, built in a shape that may be a basic square or can be as exotic as anything you can imagine building using small, flat, rectangular tiles. All tiles are in face-up position, but you'll only have access to the tiles that aren't wholly or partially covered. This gives you a limited set of matches, and matches are what you'll need to find in order to clear the level.
Quest Mode is the story-supported sequence of levels that takes you through each tile set and location (shown via background images/art during your play session) before coming to a close. You'll have the chance to earn special emblems during Quest, and unlock a mystery using nothing more than your mahjongg skill. There are some neat mechanics to play that go beyond strict tile matching, but a good eye is generally all you'll need to win the day here. Classic and Endless Modes take the story element away and allow you to customize your mahjongg experience considerably more. Classic especially lets you select each element of play, making it the most enduring play experience. Endless is comparable to Tetris in that you'll work your way down into a tower of tiles that is constantly being replenished. We can only hope for updates to Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 that unlock more tile sets, backgrounds or play modes, but what is here will leave you feeling like you got your money's worth. Unlocking additional merit badges won't take determined players long, so the replay value depends on your interest in knocking around longer than the Quest Mode in Classic and Endless sessions. |
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Difficulty:
Calling this variety of mahjongg difficult is like calling Go Fish! difficult... You know it's just a matter of time before you'll win, a "when" rather than "if" conception of success. Where this solitaire adaptation of the tile game is like its card counterpart is on the occasion when you run out of tiles. There are mechanics for refreshing the board, undoing a previous move, or asking for a hint, but all these draw from a pool of assistance that is far from limited. A neat device, this little helper feature; if you match tiles with one or two green orbs, the orbs are stockpiled and used as you ask for help. Good players will end up with a surplus of these, while needy players may actually find themselves stuck during the game and out of help reserves. Fortunately for these players, the more advanced boards are filled with special tiles that assist you. It is possible to match these like any other tile, but they perform special functions that get you out of hot water. Whether lifting tiles to expose needed patterns, switching tiles, or drawing tiles in magnetically from other parts of the board, these are tiles you need to use anyway to clear each level. Good strategic players won't call on their reserves much, preferring to use the special tiles. We found a few occasions when reshuffling the tiles helped to get beyond an impasse, but mostly there was no need for an undo feature or the hints. Younger players, or those unfamiliar with the basic strategy behind mahjongg, will find the hint system incredibly useful.
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Game Mechanics:
Trying to adapt typical point-and-click mechanics to mobile gaming has become a non-issue with touch screen systems like Nintendo's DSi and Apple's iPod. Sony gamers still have to work with buttons and an analog stick, which isn't necessarily a handicap, so long as a thoughtful adaptation is executed. In the case of Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2, we saw some big flaws in this area. Rather than take the more logical approach of using the analog stick like one would use a mouse on the PC, this game's controls map movement to the directional face buttons. The analog stick does the camera instead, assuming you don't have the game's intuitive auto-zoom feature enabled. The problem with using N-S-E-W directional controls is that almost nothing in a mahjongg game is on a tight grid. Especially once the board becomes picked apart, you'll find lots of diagonals and locations that would only take a minute to scroll to as the crow flies. Instead, you have to figure out what combination of left/right and up/down is required, and this almost never becomes intuitive. Selecting the wrong tile pair means you'll have to go back to your first location, which is a frustrating byproduct of the bad controls. We absolutely hated the default controls, and despised even more that nothing in the controls' department was configurable.
Building the new Minis library will mean some potentially great games are headed to Sony's network. The PSP and PSPgo are very much in need of new blood, especially in the case of the PSPgo that can't immediately take advantage of older UMD releases. Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 has the feel of something that clearly didn't originate on this platform, and we wish more thought had gone into porting the game over. We can vouch for the overall experience being solid, from a gameplay perspective. If you really like the notion of playing mahjongg on your PSP, there's no question that Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 delivers, but we can't help noticing how much more could have been delivered if more effort had gone into creating intuitive controls and some gameplay expansions through online community or downloads. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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