Tall Twins Tower is the sequel to Tall Unlimited developed and published by Techno Soleil in winter 2000 for the Playstation. The suggested retail price is again 3800 yen. This is a Japanese "import" game; I do not know of any overseas release version. While the original was an interesting game (if a bit dry), the sequel is improved in many aspects, making it really enjoyable and pleasant to play.
The basic rules of the game remains largely the same; please consult the description of play of the original if you do not know it already. There are some minor and subtle rules changes: the scoring has been eliminated and the play is evaluated solely according to the clear time; the stage timer now consumes a few blocks at a time instead of a floor at a time, and the function of chains towards setting back the timer has been abolished; blocks which are colored on only one side sometimes appear; in late stages, the block rolled into a contact vanishes after several seconds; and so on. I feel that all of these changes are well thought out improvements which make the game better.
One major change is the addition of special abilities. There are now two characters to choose from, each with its own special ability. The rabbit has the "crane", which lifts up a block and moves it laterally one space. The cat has the "slide", which slides all blocks on a floor laterally. Either of these moves allows you to shift blocks laterally without rotating them, thus giving you another way of manipulating block facing besides the old "up a floor and down" trick. However, these moves are somewhat slower to perform than normal block rolling. The crane seems more versatile, but it has the drawback that your chain timer (portrayed this time as a balloon) expires faster when you are using it. These special abilities make the game more accessible to beginners, while to the experts they add more strategy options; they make the game more pleasurable to play by both classes of players (an achievement not to be understated).
The other major change is suggested by the game title: there is now a two-player vs. mode. The two players compete on a split screen to build 10 floors faster than the opponent. (One can also win by destroying all the blocks on the opponent's tower.) When you make a contact and generate blocks, a cloud will hover over your opponent's tower (exception: green attack). It gradually turns into a thunder cloud, and eventually attacks the tower it is over. You can make the cloud bigger by keeping on making contacts, but your opponent can send the cloud back for a counterattack too by making a contact. So as the cloud darkens, there can be a thrilling match for sending the cloud over to the opponent's side, especially when the cloud is large. However, when one makes contacts and makes a chain, besides the cloud attack, one also gets the generated blocks and the bonus blocks normally; thus while the cloud attack is important, it is not everything, and the player's basic chaining skill is important too. I feel that this is a very nice balance, for while the counterattack feature adds some excitement, it doesn't make the game too chaotic or random.
The type of the cloud attack depends on the color of the blocks last matched. Red blocks create some bombs, and two switches. The victim has 10 seconds to try to defuse the bomb by stepping on one of the switches, but the wrong switch would detonate the bomb immediately. The bombs would blow away a fair number of blocks if not defused. Blue blocks add arrows to blocks. Even with the new special abilities, arrows can slow one down substantially. Yellow blocks cast a thunderbolt on the affected tower and destroy a few blocks. Green blocks are special in that the "attack" affects the attacker's own tower. It adds several blocks which have the same color on all four sides. Such blocks make it really easy to make chains. For a more even match between players of different skill levels, a player can play at a higher handicap level, which increases the power of enemy cloud attacks.
The puzzle mode has been extended to 100 stages, though most of them are hardly of any challenge to a veteran player who has been playing the original game.
Along with playability enhancements, the graphics have also received an overhaul. While the graphics in the original game is of a more solemn style similar to Tetris, the cute style has been chosen for the sequel. The old toilet sign figures have been replaced by toddlers, and the blocks are now in bright pastel colors. The stage backgrounds are in brighter colors, too. The music style basically follows along the same direction as the graphics.
Tall Twins Tower is a significant improvement over the original. There are the new special abilities, and there are also a good number of minor playability enhancements. The game engine has been improved, so that the pace is faster. There is also a very well done two-player vs. mode, which turns out to be much better than I had expected. The graphics have been revised to suit a light, pleasant game. The original was good, but the sequel is even better. It is (again) the best one-player puzzle game currently in existence on any console to my knowledge. It is also very good as a two-player vs. puzzle game: it may not be as good as the chain-centered hard-core skill contests of Puyo Puyo, Panel de Pon and Starsweep, but I'd say that it is better than most everything else. It is the one-player puzzle game of choice, highly recommended to all puzzle game players, regardless of whether one has played the original or not. It really comes down to what one looks for in his video game purchases: if one cares about quality and playability, and doesn't consider obscurity of the title to be a problem, this game is definitely not to be missed (especially at such a bargain price); but these days many people are simply looking for games which everybody else is playing. The latter type may have fun, but they miss out on the best.
Copyright 30 Jan 2001 Alan Shiu Ho Kwan
Alan Kwan / tarot@netvigator.com / created 30 Jan 01