LogFAQs > #967717570

#15: Petal Crash

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/7/AAA-H0AADoC5.jpg

The best thing about the new wave of indie gaming we've had since the early 10's is that, with a new influx of developers looking to make games on the cheap and recapture the magic of their childhood favorites, there's pastiche for just about every style of game out there. And not just the popular things to make pastiche out of, like Earthbound, or gritty low-res survival horror PS1 games. For me, the joy is in knowing that there's someone else out there who really wanted to recreate the exact look and feel of Pokemon Puzzle Challenge for the GBC.

I dunno what it is about the GBC aesthetic. It was the last bastion of bold, primary-colored pixel art and chipper 8-bit tunes, and while that look and feel echoed into the GBA and even DS eras, something about sitting down with my GBC on a long road trip was special. PPC in the summer of 2001 was probably the last game I ever really sat down with on my GBC for a long period of time and I really had no idea how much I would miss that aesthetic once it was gone. 'Falling block' puzzle games would go the way of sleek visuals and thumping beats in the future with games like Lumines and Planet Puzzle League in the near future and it never appealed to me as much as the cutesy characters and cheery vibe of these older Panel de Pon games. Obviously I'm not the only one who felt that PdP really needed to get back to its fairy-girl roots, and hence we have Petal Crash, in all of its cheesy GBC-inspired glory.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/8/AAA-H0AADoC6.jpg

Petal Crash is the latest heir in the Tetris lineage of block-puzzle games, and I'm really glad that someone's still making this sort of thing. In the 90's everyone used to have their own take on the 'falling block' puzzle; there's the obvious ones like Puyo Puyo and Dr. Mario and Columns, but there's a bunch of other forgotten ones out there (does anyone remember Puzz Loop?). We still got them in the late 00's with stuff like Lumines and Meteos, but since then it's kind of dropped off as of late. We still get variations on the old classics from time to time like Tetris 99 or Puyo Puyo Tetris but rarely does someone put the time and the effort into creating a brand new game in this genre. Maybe on mobile platforms they do? But they mostly seem kind of out of style.

Well, not with me. Tetris Attack is still my fucking jam and Petal Crash is, as a result, right up my alley. It's a refreshing new take in this genre; you have a grid where you can slide colored panels in one direction until they hit something, and if they collide with a same color panel, they all explode, sending any adjacent panels sliding themselves, which can create chains of exploding panels. It's a pretty familiar idea, yet it's somehow completely brand new; it's immediately intuitive as if I've played it before even though it hasn't existed until now. It feels like it always should have existed, like it's some forgotten game from 2001. Discovering this game is like meeting a family member I didn't know I have and immediately becoming fast friends with them.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/9/AAA-H0AADoC7.jpg

Of course, what really sells Petal Crash for me is that absolutely delicious GBC vibe it has. It's truly retro in a way that feels completely authentic to the exact time that it's trying to replicate, and I appreciate that authenticity. The soundtrack is a banger and sounds like it could come directly out of the speakers of a GBC, and the pixel art is just so colorful and appealing to look at; the panels pop right off the screen. And the character designs are so adorable! I want to main as every single one of them, although Yosoti the centaur is my go-to (nonbinary rep!)

This game has all of the usual puzzle game modes; time attack, endless, puzzle mode, but the game is primarily focused on vs play so story mode is kinda the main draw out of the single player modes. And it is quite the story mode - every character's got their long-winded backstory reason for wanting to collect a bunch of flowers and having a wish granted, which is also delightfully retro in its earnestly sincere corniness. The story mode's pretty great though - the writing's surprisingly funny and all of the characters are great (every single one of ore kid's lines are worth the game's price of admission alone, she's the best). I'm in love with this game's cast of adorable weirdos.

It's also hard as goddamn balls. This game's got difficulty modes for those of you who aren't hardened puzzle game veterans like me, but I personally cannot beat this game's Master difficulty without multiple continues. Unlike other falling block games where you need to keep your screen from hitting the top, in this game you need to play a tug-of-war with your opponent where you clear a gradually-shrinking margin more of tiles than they do, while creating chains delivers unmovable blocks to the other side to slow them down. If you slow down to create a big chain to send to your opponent, they can send you a smaller attack to disrupt you while getting a lead in tiles cleared, so you have to carefully balance creating attacks with making sure you're keeping pace in overall tiles cleared. The high-level AI doesn't fuck around, and it's really hard to keep pace with them - I just can't see quality clears fast enough.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/6/0/AAA-H0AADoC8.jpg

Steam tells me I've only played this game for like 8 hours but it feels like 50 because I keep coming back to it every now and then to nibble at it a bit more. I haven't really quite felt up to the idea of truly mastering it - maybe I'm just too old for this shit - but I really, really wish I did because there's so much depth and potential here. There is online play for this game that came out a bit after I picked it up which I haven't played yet, nobody was on the servers when I checked it out so I'd probably have to find opponents to play myself, which I kind of want to at some point, but I'm also worried I'll get my ass kicked really badly.

Even if I don't fully master it, though, it's still a lot of fun, and discovering this game - I can't even remember how I came across it at this point, I know it was popular on the Necrodancer servers a couple years ago - was a real joy. It feels like more than just stumbling upon a new game, but receiving a gift that was made with love for someone exactly like me. I don't think this game got nearly enough press - puzzle game fans should definitely check this one out.

Next up: Don't worry, after this there's only one more hyper-obscure game on my list. This is my favorite game from the Ukraine bundle, but I first discovered it in GDQ.