GENRE
	Puzzle
	DEVELOPER
	Griptonite
	PUBLISHER
	Capcom
	LOCAL WIRELESS MULTI-PLAY
	Yes
	Wi-Fi/GLOBAL ONLINE MULTI-PLAY
	No
	MICROPHONE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

How well do you know your Neopets? They've been around since 1999 on a virtual pet website, Neopets.com, and now they're jumping into traditional console gaming. While there are over 50 different kinds of Neopets and perhaps even more Petpets (which are the Neopets' pets), knowing anything about them is irrelevant to enjoying Neopets Puzzle Adventure, thanks to the game being based on classic Othello with a few twists.

visuals

The DS version of Neopets Puzzle Adventure has a serviceable enough graphics engine. There's a bit of to-do about selecting which Neopet to play as at the start of the single player quest. A dozen Neopet species are available to choose as the gamer's avatar, with the only customizations being name, color and gender. The difference between male and female versions of the Neopets is almost comical-- in almost every instance the only discernable difference among genders is long eyelashes or eyeshadow, but this is likely a constraint of the license.

This foreshadows a larger presentation problem with the game: no matter how colorful or detailed the characters or backgrounds are, they're not animated at all-- not even an eye blink, which even the ad banners on Neopets.com feature. The only animation in this game is the crude walking of the main character from point to point on the world maps, game board pieces flipping and emanating shockwaves, and some sliding objects in other mini-games. There are also some background scrolling clouds that appear on the top screen's title cards from time to time, but otherwise there's very little going on, which is a disappointing considering how easy it is to imagine the map and characters coming to life with just a little extra work.

audio

Most of the game music is Asian, Middle Eastern or tribal in nature. The compositions are pleasant and not distracting, and some simple sound effects augment actions in the board games. There isn't any voice work to speak of.

gameplay

Othello isn't an easy game. The rules are simple, certainly: "sandwich" (as the game says) a solid line of the opponents' pieces between an existing piece and a newly laid piece of your own horizontally, diagonally or vertically. All your opponents' pieces within that sandwich then flip to your color. If other "sandwich" lines are created in other directions from your newly laid piece, those opposing pieces are flipped to your color as well. Once every empty spot on the game board is filled with a piece, the player with the most pieces of his or her color on the board wins.

It's not the complexity of chess, but it's definitely a step up from the basic "match 3" gameplay in Bejewled or Puzzle Quest, where combo chains and thinking several moves ahead are usually optional to winning. Perhaps recognizing the difficulty of Othello and the possibility many younger gamers not familiar with the rules will be attracted by the Neopets license, Puzzle Adventures' developers made sure the computer won't be too difficult to beat, and more challenging rounds can be softened thanks to game-changing Petpets.

Progressing through the single player story mode will have the gamer earning an ever-growing selection of Petpets, which can be viewed as strategic tools or, to Othello purists, cheats. Yet just because one of the few equipped Petpets will allow a gamer to place the first game piece, take two turns in a row, remove playable spots from the board, or selectively flip opposing pieces to her color does not ensure victory. Every once in a while, the computer opponent will execute a cunning combo chain that handily obliterates the gamer's advantage in a single turn, and occasionally (though not often) the computer will use a Petpet to great effect. This uncertainty adds a definite spark to the matches and, regardless the Petpets' gifts, still makes the game feel challenging.

Perhaps the only rules-bending gimmick that seems painful is the "shockwave," which randomly occurs if either player flips multiple lines of pieces after laying a single piece. "SHOCKWAVE," the screen will proclaim, and an additional piece of the opposing player's will randomly flip to the combo-maker's color, causing anywhere from zero to six or more pieces flipping to the combo-player's advantage. Given that there is no control or strategy over this feature, and that it can turn the tide of a game dramatically, it can either be very frustrating or unexpectedly beneficial.

The single player story mode contains the meat of Neopets Puzzle Adventure. The gamer's selected avatar progresses through a relatively short quest concerning a magical threat that could destroy the Neopets' world of Neopia. The conversations between each match of are sometimes lengthy, sometimes humorous and sometimes inconsequential, but they work. For all the angst the story suggests, it's also surprising how abruptly it ends: don't expect any tears shed. There are five beautifully illustrated (yet static) world maps, each based on three distinct areas (Asian village, Egyptian desert and town, tribal volcanic island), with plenty of preset paths and location points the avatar slowly shuffles between in various fetch quests. The animation and speed of walking across the static maps is crude and slow, adding unnecessary slowdown to the game's pace. This can be frustrating when a gamer just wants to get on with the next match, especially since the locations don't change anything other than the portrait of the enemy.

Winning matches in the story mode helps move the plot along, gain experience points and potentially adds an extra, selectable Petpet or two to the gamer's inventory. Experience building doesn't seem to have much purpose other than gradually unlocking more Petpets a gamer can equip before each match (a max of five by the end game), so the more intricate customization and strategy of experience points distribution found in Puzzle Quest is noticeably absent here. However, given the younger demographic skew Neopets commands, the simplicity is more forgivable. The option to do more would have been nice, however.

Sprucing up the single player quest are a few unexpected, simple minigames that are distinctly not Othello. There's a card-flipping memory game, a "shooting gallery" style game that requires different symbols drawn on the touch screen to shoot targets, and a simple version of SameGame, which fans of Sega Swirl may recognize. Completely different from the main combat, these minigames are a nice touch of variety to the overall package. They only show up about five times throughout the single player quest, but they and Othello can be selected outside of Story Mode under the "Instant Action" mode, each game having three selectable levels of difficulty.

But what of true fans of the license? They, too, have much reason to go through this adventure because certain story points and accomplishments unlock secret codes that can be entered on the Neopets website, granting the player bonus items only usable at Neopets.com.

multiplayer

Othello, like checkers or chess, is a classic two-player game that's perfect for showdowns of mental superiority. Neopets Puzzle Adventure supports wireless multi-card play for the main Othello game but not the other minigames since they're single-player oriented. Given the gameplay's addictive nature and relatively simple presentation, it's too bad that wireless download wasn't supported, because that could have potentially propelled more purchases of this title. However, the perk of playing with your own card is that both players gain experience points from the battle applied to their selected character profile, the same as if they were engaging in battles in the single player story mode.

overall

Othello has been left in obscurity for far too long, and Capcom and Griptonite have done a great job creating a "next gen" version of the rule set to draw new folks in. From the franchise side, the game doesn't shed a lot of light on the breadth and scope of the sizable Neopets universe, but it works well enough as a subtle "come hither" to check out Neopets.com and see all the other functionality and experiences available for Neopets fans. From the adventure/RPG angle, though, this is no Puzzle Quest: the story's short and simple, and gaining experience points is really a glorified timer for unlocking additional slots to equip Petpets. Nevertheless, it's the heart of classic-but-tweaked Othello gameplay that makes this a title worth picking up again and again.

7.0/10