Puz: Jam [by Red Games]

Game: Jam
Release: January 1st, 2004
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Red Games
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP P166, 16MB of Ram, Dance Mat is Optional
Price: $24.95

At first glance, each of the playing modes in Jam look and play the same. What is different is how the rules change slightly. You can play a regular game where you simply try to create rows of bubbles, or you can play a version where every so often the controls reverse on you. You can play the regular games, or you can play the bonus versions. You can play solo, or you can play with a friend or two... or even eight! And there are plenty of other game play options to choose from.

One of the interesting features of this game is the fact that it supports the keyboard controls as well as the PC Dance Mat from Logic 3. I didn't have such a mat so I couldn't test it out, but you can be sure to get some exercise if you do have one yourself.

The basic rules of the game involve filling the top four rows in each grid area with bubbles. This isn't like Tetris where you can fix a gap by getting rid of the other rows next to it. To clear one of the grid areas, you must lose a life by filling it past the actual grid. Luckily if you do mess up with one area, there are three others to work with. You can move your playing pieces along the bottom and launch them into any of the grid areas.

But those are the basic rules. Other rules based on the mode and flavor being played make the game interesting. As said before, it is possible to play the single player version with simple controls, but some of the modes provide a setup that lets multiple players participate. You could also try to care of all the controls yourself in these modes, if you are up for the challenge.

Each of the playing modes have different base rules, such as having a time limit or the number of lives you get. Then, each of those modes has a number of different flavors, where each flavor adjusts the rules or applies new ones. Easier flavors provide simple controls and simple scoring rules while the harder flavors might introduce reverse controls after a few rounds and have more complex scoring rules. For instance, one flavor might have halve your bonus points if you leave any bubbles in a cleared playing area, while another flavor would give you extra points for doing the same thing.

I would have liked to see an option to change the default controls though. Having two players using the arrow keys and the keypad in such close quarters can make it more difficult to play than it had to be. Setting the first player to use the keys A,S,W, and D instead of the arrow keys would have made the arrangement more comfortable, at least when I played it with my sister. Also, I found that if I just tried to play the game I had better luck understanding how to play than if I tried to read the instructions first. They unfortunately were not written very clearly and would turn off most casual gamers.

Still, the game play was really fun, once you got the hang of it all. If you can play Tetris, you can get into this game, but I am warning you now that this game is different. I had to pull my sister away from the computer in order to finish this review because she couldn't stop playing.

Graphics: 6
Jam's graphics are not amazingly stellar, but being able to play this game without having to break the bank buying a new video card is nice. Animation is fairly simple, and the game doesn't provide a lot of flash to get in the way of the play.

Sound: 7
Like the graphics, the sound effects are fairly basic. On the other hand, the music provides a couple of catchy tunes while you play.

Game Play: 8
The basic controls are simple and intuitive enough, but then the Reverse Controls setting in the game kicks in on some modes, which can be confusing at first. Also, some of the multiplayer modes provide so many controls to do things that you have to reread the instructions in order to figure out how to warp and move.

Options: 8
Besides being able to turn off the sound, the number of game modes and flavors provide a large number of ways to play. People will probably one or two favorite modes/flavors, but the large variety will keep anyone playing for some time. Being able to change the default controls would have been nice, but unfortunately it is a missing option.

Concept: 8
The game play is similar to many puzzle games, but when you take into account the number of different rulesets available, you can see that this isn't any ordinary puzzle game.

Fun: 8
It took some time to get used the game, but once I got going, and once I discovered multiplayer with other people, this game was hard to put down.

Overall: 7
Unfortunately getting into the game isn't easy for all of the modes. The instructions for some of the flavors can provide way too much in the way of text. I think if they were laid out better it might be clearer how to play some of the flavors. Still, once you do get into the game, it can be quite fun and leave you wondering where the time went. Puzzle fans really should give this game a good try though, because otherwise they will miss out.
Added: January 17th 2004
Reviewer: Gianfranco Berardi
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