Magnetica Twist Review

Platform: Wii
Developer: Mitchell Corporation
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: June 30th, 2008
Genre: Puzzle
1. Graphics: 7/10
2. Sound: 8/10
3. Interface: 8/10
4. Replay: 7/10
5. Gameplay: 8/10
6. Stability: 7/10
7. Overall: 8/10

Great puzzle games seem to be a rare commodity these days. It seems as though a lot of puzzle games lose their spark after a few hours and leave you asking for more. That's why whenever I consider buying a puzzle game, I do some extensive research on it before I buy it. Of course there are always a few exceptions to that statement. Some puzzle games, most notably Professor Layton and the Curious Village, don't require me to do this simply because there's just simply something about the game that I adore. For Professor Layton and the Curious Village, the unique style of the game coupled with the game's unique storyline led me to buying this great game. Over the past few months, there have only been a handful of games that I would recommend buying. One of them is Magnetica Twist a unique puzzle game in which you have to break balls to order to increase your score.

Released in Europe under the name Actionloop Twist, Magnetica Twist puts you in a launcher that is capable of shooting colored balls. Marbles roll down a path and your goal is to destroy them before they reach the end of the path or else it's game over. To destroy the marbles, players will fire colored marbles to marbles of the same color on the track. However, the marbles will only disappear if three of the same color collide. That means if you fire a red marble at another red one, you'll need to launch one more before they disappear. Marbles of the same color are magnetically attracted to each other over any wide open space, and allowing for chains of disappearance to occur.

As the difficulty of the game increases, more colors of marbles will rapidly start to move out of the dispenser, making it even harder to create large combos. However, this is where the strategy aspect of the game starts to kick in. Instead of firing marbles at random places, players will need to think about the situation before they actually fire. The think is, you only got a second to think about things. Before you know it, the path will be full of marbles. You got to think and fire rapidly if you want to progress to the next level.

On the right hand corner of your screen is a gauge that measures which level you're at. In Magnetica Twist, the more marbles you destroy, the quicker it will be for you to progress to the next level. Once you manage to destroy ten levels worth of marbles, a rocket will appear and push the marbles to the end of the path. In this scenario, there are several things you can do. For starters, you can fire a marble at the rocket to destroy it. You can also use a special marble and fire it at a color marble that you want eliminated. Once this unique marble comes in contact with a marble, all the marbles of that color will be destroyed. Using this method, you can rack up a lot of points.

You're problem thinking now that Magnetica Twist lacks depth. "How can a cheap downloadable puzzle game with simple gameplay have depth?" Well surprisingly, Magnetica Twist offers more depth than a lot of other WiiWare games. In total, there are five different modes players can engage in: 1-player easy, 2-player easy, 1-player hard, 1-player, and multiplayer. Though I've already talked about the first three modes, the remaining two haven't been touched yet.

In challenge mode, players will be required to select and complete missions. In each level there are three missions, but in order to progress you only need to complete one of these missions. Each mission is harder than the others, so novice players will most likely choose missions at the bottom of the screen whereas veteran players may decide to complete the missions on the top. And for those who just can't make up their mind, there's even a normal difficulty level.

Finally, we come to multiplayer, perhaps the most chaotic experience of all. One player destroying marbles is bad enough, but not it's time to throw in upwards of three more people. You might expect multiplayer to be easier than the single player modes, but trust me, it's not. You may try to score a combo and just when you fire the marble, somebody else messes it up. However, that makes it all the more fun. After seeing somebody ruin your idea, you then have to think of another one.

Perhaps the best thing about multiplayer is the wide array of options the mode has. After selecting your Mii and confirming who you want to play with, you can then select if you want to do a battle or a team activity. If you select to do a team activity, more options will come up on what you would like to do. Options such as fixed colors and clear will appear. In my opinion, this makes the game quite enjoyable. Even playing with the AI is quite enjoyable.

Now you're probably wondering where the 'twist' comes into the game. Well the twist to the game is that you actually twist the Wii Remote to move your launcher. Though it can get a little gimmicky in places, the twisting aspect works pretty well. The only major problem I had was when I had to rotate the launcher 180 degrees and then rotate it back to where I started, things didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted them to. Trust me, it's not the easiest thing to do, but nevertheless, the controls make the game a very enjoyable experience.

Graphically, Magnetica Twist isn't anything special, but personally, I like how the game looks. The approach the developers took by making the game look simple really payed off in the end. If the game were to have complex graphics, I just don't think the game would be quite as enjoyable. The same thing can be said about the sound, too. Though nothing special, the music really brings out the best of the game. There's just something about the music in the game that gives the game a lot of personality and makes the game enjoyable.

All in all, Magnetica Twist is an awesome game that unfortunately, many people have yet to download. If you have any interest whatsoever in downloading WiiWare games, this should be an automatic download. Why? Simply because the game brings forth a simple concept and offers an enjoyable experience, both alone or with friends. What else can I say? If you haven't downloaded this game yet, go download it now. It's one of the best ways to spend 1,000 Wii Points.