Dirty Pop.  80s pop.  Puyo Pop?  There have been a lot of things that go "pop" lately (including former country artists), but puyo is likely the last thing anyone thinks of in association with the word.  Few puzzle fans know of its existence.  Back in the day it was Tetris and Columns who battled it out for puzzle game supremacy.  Despite its smaller presence in the States, Puyo Pop was there, pleasing any puzzle fan who dared to take the game on.

Sega loves to port old games to new consoles, so it made sense that they'd port Puyo Pop to Nokia's N-Gage.  This puzzler is more suited for the small screen, though you'll probably wish there was a less expensive way to battle with a friend (Bluetooth only, and you know what that means – two N-Gage game decks and two copies of Puyo Pop are needed for multiplayer games).

Based on in-game screenshots, you might mistake this for a Tetris or Dr. Mario clone.  I'm not sure which came first (Puyo Pop or Dr. Mario), but I can tell you that this game is very different from Nintendo's puzzlers.

Blocks are most commonly used in puzzle games, but for Puyo Pop, Sega opted for something a little out of the ordinary: blobs.  The booklet refers to them as beans, but do you know any beans that jiggle like Jello and stick together like glue?

Puyo Pop's beans can be depleted by connecting four of the same color.  Uniquely, the connection does not have to be vertical or horizontal.  The beans will disappear as long as they are touching each other in any way except diagonally.  By allowing players to deplete beans in so many ways, Puyo Pop opens up a ton of new puzzle solutions to think about.  Why is the game against diagonal depletion?  Your guess is as good as mine.  It would probably be a lot easier to complete each puzzle if such an option were available, but the developers may have chosen not to include it because so many other games do.

Beans are distributed in pairs of two.  Usually the two beans are of different colors, but every now and then you'll get a pair that is of the exact same color.  There are only five colors in all (red, violet, green, yellow, and blue), but don't think that's going to make the game easy.  In the Scenario or two-player mode, both you and your opponents can drop clear, hard-to-remove beans on each other's game screen.  Since there are no clear beans in your inventory, the only way to remove the build up is by depleting all of the colored beans that are touching the clear beans.  Sometimes this can actually help you succeed.  Early on it's not easy to spot potential chain moves, but if the clear beans are lined up appropriately, eliminating them will set off a chain reaction.  Four red beans disappear, dropping a yellow bean in between two pairs of yellow beans; this causes two blue beans to drop, which conveniently land on two more blue beans; etc.  Chains can be a lifesaver in a crucial game.  They clear your screen quickly, and drop large amount of clear beans on your opponent!

As good as this game is, it does have one issue: color differences.  It's easy to tell which beans are red, green or yellow.  Blue and violet are a whole other story.  Their color difference has more to do with brightness than anything else, so if your eyes are not accustomed to deciphering tiny differences between colors, you'll have some trouble.  I got over it after a while.  As long as I look really closely I can tell which ones are blue and which ones are violet.  But this is a mistake that didn't have to be.  They could have easily changed the violet-colored beans to something more obvious like black or brown.  It may not have fit in with how the game was intended to look, but is that what really matters?

If you have the patience to train your eyes, Puyo Pop is the puzzle game to get for N-Gage.  It's one of Sega's best titles for the system.  Puyo Pop hasn't had the success that other puzzlers have had in the States, so chances are you've never even played it before.  That makes the experience even more unique than it already is.  If one or more of your friends or relatives has an N-Gage, convince them to get this game immediately.  It's loads of fun to play by yourself.  Long bus rides won't seem so tedious with this game at your side.  But in the long run it's the multiplayer mode that will encourage gamers (especially female gamers) to purchase a second battery pack.  One battery is equal to around six hours of gameplay per charge.  That's not nearly enough for this title.

Gameplay: 8
Puyo Pop is a classic puzzler reborn on the N-Gage.  It looks basic but is surprisingly challenging.  You'll be amazed by how addictive a game about depleting beans can be.  But that's what Sega does – they create great games from simple or crazy concepts that don't make any sense until you play them.

Graphics: 5
Simple, cartoony little blobs...er...beans.  Not much more to see beyond that.

Sound: 6
Cutesy, semi-annoying music that can be turned off by visiting the options menu.

Difficulty: Medium
Not the hardest puzzler on the planet, Puyo Pop's real challenge lies in its multiplayer mode.  Female gamers who love Tetris will likely kill this game in a couple of days.  Then they're going to be bugging their siblings, boyfriends and husbands to play.  So you had better be up to the challenge.

Concept: 8
Puyo Pop is another port, and I don't normally give a high concept score to ports.  But this is the first time I've gotten to play through the whole game, and seeing how unique it is, I can't help but give Sega praise for what they've created.

Multiplayer: 8
A reason to be thankful for Bluetooth.  Puyo Pop is the game that'll get women hooked on the N-Gage.  If you only have one (and you're a guy), you may not want to share it with your mother, sister, or girlfriend.  Otherwise you may never see it again.

Overall: 8
The box art makes it look like a kiddie game starring cute and cuddly blobs, but in reality this is an addictive puzzler starring cute and cuddly beans.  Seriously, it is on the cutesy side, but this should not be considered a kiddie game.  It's friendly for all ages (can you think of a puzzler that isn't?), but the gameplay is challenging enough to engross adult men and adult women.  If you've got a girlfriend who just won't game, consider getting a second N-Gage.  She'll roll her eyes at your evil scheme.  But if you can get her to play Puyo Pop, she'll be hooked for life.  She won't necessarily turn into a hardcore gamer of all games, but she'll be hardcore for this title.  It's got the same addictive qualities that made female gamers go nuts for Tetris, Columns and Dr. Mario.