Gunpey

Gunpey DS is a new puzzle game for the Nintendo DS that advertises itself as musically-driven. Like Lumines, each piece moved creates a sound effect, and cleared pieces create a different sound effect. Paired with the music you’re almost creating your own soundtrack as you play.

In Gunpey DS, the whole point is to create a line connecting the right and left side of the play field. The field is a grid setup, and each grid piece has a line in it. The lines are oriented in various ways, and using the touchscreen or control pad you can only move these lines up and down to create a line going across the whole grid.

There are multiple ways to create these lines. As long as each end is touching the side of the grid, you can have the line doing whatever you want in between. It can branch into multiple lines or zigzag back and fourth. In fact, getting more than just a single line to disappear is the goal of the game, since the more grids you clear at once the better.

When you’ve completed a line, it doesn’t clear right away. It stays for a little bit so that you can either throw more pieces onto it or complete a second line to clear with the first. This allows you to quickly combo and have a higher grid clear count instead of spending all your time setting them up.

Gunpey DS has quite a few game modes. The main mode is called Frontier, where players embark on a journey through the galaxy, challenging crazy creatures to games of Gunpey. In Frontier mode you are actually playing against an AI opponent, so Special Attacks are in effect. Special Attacks are triggered when you combo a certain number of grids in a single clear. The more grids you clear, the more devastating the attack. These attacks don’t just throw more pieces at your opponent, like in most puzzle games. Special Attacks in Gunpey actually affect how your opponent plays the game. For example, in a Versus game against a friend you can disable their touchscreen for a short period with a high enough combo.

Each character in Gunpey shares a level 1, 2, and 4 Special Attack, but the level 3 attack depends on the character. So for once it actually matters which character you choose in a puzzle game.

Versus mode can be played wirelessly with a friend. There is also a Rivals section where Gunpey DS keeps track of all the people you’ve played and your records from those games. Also, if you have a friend that doesn’t own a copy of Gunpey, there is a demo that you can send to their DS.

There is also an Endless mode, where players can choose a stage and play until they can’t keep up anymore. Time Attack and Stage Attack are also available modes. In Time Attack players are given a set amount of time, and the goal is to clear as many grids as they can. Stage Attack provides a set number of grids that needs to be cleared, and as time passes the difficulty increases. All these modes are played solo.

Since Time Attack and Endless are played without opponents, you can opt to play them in Double Screen mode. Double Screen mode essentially puts you in control of two games at once, and you can switch between them on the fly. The currently selected game is on the touchscreen while the other can be seen on the top screen. Both are active, so it’s a good way to play if you’re looking for more of a challenge.  

Challenge can be an issue once you get a hang of Gunpey DS. The learning curve can be pretty steep, since it takes some time to notice combos. At first I didn’t even know what I was doing. But, after just a couple hours I now have no trouble at all dispatching of my AI enemies.

Gunpey DS also has an Extras area. There aren’t a whole lot of extras to enjoy, though. First is a screen where you can watch a little guy walk around on a Gunpey puzzle screen. You can alter his path using the puzzle grids, and you can change the way he moves by selecting from a list of unlocked options. That’s about it.

There is also an in-depth music creating extra that is actually pretty neat. It’s not so much a game as a way to stretch your creative muscles and mess with music and sound effects. It has a surprising number of options for creating music and can be pretty fun if you’re into that sort of thing.

Gunpey DS offers plenty of ways to play, but the real problem is that the gameplay never differs. The limited types of puzzle pieces and absence of a real strategy sort of holds this one back. It’s possible that it may capture many gamers’ attention, but for some it will feel like a lot of the same thing.        

Gameplay: 6.8
The touch screen makes this play very smooth. You’ll most likely have fun during the learning curve, but after awhile it’s hard not to notice how rigid the gameplay is. With only four different pieces there isn’t much room for strategy, making this one almost too simple.

Graphics: 7.6 
The cartoony menus create a fun feel to the game, and each level has a different background and color scheme for the pieces. Other that that, though, there isn’t much to look at.

Sound: 9.0
Gunpey DS is full of catchy tunes and sound effects to go along with your puzzle solving. Each level has a different song, and I never really found any of them annoying. The music creator is pretty fun too.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The game will be a little difficult at first as you get used to how it works, but once you’re in the groove it gets pretty easy. Double Screen mode definitely adds to the difficulty, though, and playing with a friend can be another challenge.

Concept: 7.0 
I would have liked to see more variety in the different modes, or maybe more puzzle pieces. Something to throw a little diversity into the mix would have added more replay value to the game.

Multiplayer: 7.0
Multiplayer, as usual, adds a nice spin to any game. Even when the game starts to get tiring against AI opponents, a good human challenger can always spice things up a bit. Since the gameplay doesn’t change, though, it doesn’t get a whole lot better.

Overall: 7.4
Gunpey DS is fun for awhile, but with not much variety in the gameplay it can get pretty stale. Soon you start to see combos a lot easier, the game moves faster, and in turn becomes easier. Gunpey DS is fun, but won’t last long for those that aren’t diehard puzzle fans.