The download space, crossing all platforms, has always been home to a host of puzzle games. Whether these are expensive versions of pop cap games, or innovative concepts made much more accessible thanks to a smaller price tag; the genre is a perfect fit for downloadable titles. The Playstation Network has been especially strong for puzzle games, the last month alone featuring 2 must have puzzlers, Cuboid and Lumines Supernova. The developers of the aforementioned Cuboid are back with a new title, Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom, but does it live up to the high pedigree of Puzzle games on PS3?
In a word, No. Mahjong has always been a very particular type of puzzle game, and if you’ve disliked it in the past, then Ancient Wisdom won’t do anything to change your mind. Mahjong always appears complicated at first, but becomes incredibly simple after a few games. Tiles adorned with different symbols are stacked into a layout, and you must eliminate them by selecting pairs of the same designed tiles, both of which must be on the edge of their respective level of the stack. This then opens up more blocks to choose from, and allows you to either erase all Tiles on screen, or combine two final blocks to complete the current game. This is basis behind all of the modes found in Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom. The Tales story mode is the main portion of the title, where you work through a series of layouts, and follow a story told between each game. The other two single player modes found in the game are Infinity and Motion mode, the first of which being straight up Mahjong, and the second putting an ‘action’ twist on the formula, giving you a set time limit to erase all tiles, while preventing a set of selectable moving tiles from reaching the end if the screen. Both these modes are far too difficult though, with a harsh learning curve as soon as you start playing; Motion mode is especially difficult as the speed heightens considerably.
The final element of the game is the multiplayer, which features both local and online options. Both of these focus on one game type, which in a similar vein to Motion mode, has a scrolling bar of extra tiles in the centre of the screen between the two players. This becomes hectic pretty quickly, with both players trying to take the same tiles. The only problem with this is that when online, the game seems to slow to a sluggish pace. The frame rate drops constantly, which is unbelievable when the graphics are as badly visualised as they are, and at times you can find it impossible to select tiles from the centre bar, making some games near impossible to win at. Having online would be great fun; the problem is just how badly this section of the game has been constructed.
But you’ll fail at any mode that involves speed and fast thinking consistently because of the terrible control scheme. Both the D-pad and analogue stick options feel plain wrong, due to the lack of a tight tile selection option. You have to hover over tiles to pick them, with no way to lock onto them included. This makes it even more frustrating than it already is, and could have been rectified easily. The same seems to be the case with the presentation too, with no greater example than the cut scenes between stages in the Tales mode being possible. The static image-and a pretty bad quality one at that-is supported by a badly voiced dialogue between nameless characters. Even the story that the scenes are trying to tell are worthless, further dampened by an excessive lack of music; you have to listen to the Mahjong equivalent of elevator music constantly-obvious when the game is credited to support custom soundtracks. Both the controls and presentation are sloppy, and don’t do anything to help the game stand up next to other PSN games for the same price.
Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom is not the Mahjong game that fans of the board game have been waiting for. It’s poorly presented, with wonky controls, which places the game’s hopes on the gameplay alone. And this leaves it all down to the Mahjong fan inside you. Sadly, the game doesn’t help newcomers, choosing instead to make the toughest challenges possible for fans of the ancient puzzler. There will be some people who enjoy Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom on this fact alone, but the game just lacks the level of polish expected on the PSN. Buy Cuboid instead.
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