 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | David A. Palmer Productions |
| Publisher: | Crave Entertainment | |
| Genre: | Puzzle | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 | |
| Online Play: | N/A | |
| Accessories: | GBA Game Link cable | |
| Buy Now: |   |
While Tringo may seem like just another budget GBA release on its surface, it’s actually a fairly significant title for historical reasons. Tringo was originally created as an in-game activity in the MMORPG Second Life, and grew to enormous popularity within the community. Thanks to Second Life’s generous Terms of Service, intellectual property created in the game remains the property of the creator (and not Second Life publisher Linden Labs). Thus Crave was able to sign a deal to bring it to the GBA, making Tringo the rare retail release to start out as a game within another game.
Unfortunately, history aside Tringo really is just another average GBA puzzle game. Somewhat of a mix between bingo and Tetris, Tringo is played on a small 5x5 board. Segmented Tetris-like pieces appear at random to be placed on the board, with the goal being to form blocks of 2x2, 2x3, 3x2, or 3x3 areas using these pieces. Scoring is based on the combination achieved, ranging from 5 points for 2x2 blocks to 30 points for 3x3 blocks. Pieces can be skipped (and will often need to be as the board is filled) at a cost of 7 points each.
Regardless of the game mode, the goal is to simply score as many points as possible. The modes included here are minimal, including Classic, Time Trial, and Infinite. In Classic, the player plays a total of 35 different pieces (each possible piece once) and has 10 seconds to place each one. Classic can also be played in multiplayer mode using the GBA Game Link cable, with up to four players competing on one cartridge. Time Trial is exactly the same as Classic, except it’s based on 1, 2, and 3 minute sessions instead of number of pieces and the same piece can be repeated multiple times.
Finally, Infinite mode is just as the name suggests. However, things are complicated in Infinite mode since a solid block is randomly placed on the board for every three game pieces played or skipped. The only way to clear these solid blocks is to use bomb pieces (supplied each turn after every third turn until used), so if not approached properly they can quickly clog up the board. To further increase the tension, after each group of 35 pieces is used, the time limit given to the player to play a piece is reduced by a second down to a minimum of five seconds.
Tringo is fun in short spurts, but Crave was smart to release it at a budget $14.99 MSRP because there’s simply not enough here to justify more than that. Although it is somewhat addictive in the beginning, nearly every game session ends up playing out in similar fashion. It almost always makes sense to combine certain piece types together the same way game after game (ex: interlock diagonals so they don’t make corners of the board nearly unusable), and there’s only so much mileage you can get out of a puzzle game like that. The board is a little too small, which makes it even more likely that you’ll fall into the same patterns game after game. Variety could’ve come from having several different and unique gameplay modes, but Classic and Time Trial are almost identical to each other and Infinite mode still boils down to the same basic strategy.
Bottom Line:
Even at $14.99, it’s hard to justify purchasing a game that won’t hold most puzzle gamers’ interest for more than an hour or two. Still, Tringo is worth a look for its original (if shallow) gameplay and unique history.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 4.5 |
Posted: 2006-06-17 12:28:17 PST