Tetris blew everyone’s minds when it was released, and still remains one of the all time greatest games, so it is no surprise that ever since, hundreds of games have tried to follow in its lofty footsteps, and none have done so well as quirks.
Created as possibly the ultimate Tetris clone by the original creator of Tetris (as boasted by the title screen), the aim is not to lose by having quirks, block like creatures of varying colours, pile up to the top having bizarrely fallen into perfect columns.
The quirks descend from the top of the screen in rotatable pairs. The tried and tested horizontal line system was scrapped in favour of a “four or more of a kind” system where four (or more) similarly coloured quirks must be horizontally or vertically connected to make them disappear, whereupon the quirks above drop down, freeing room for more quirks to drop from above or more intriguingly, to set off chains.
The screen of the challenge mode is set into two screens for quirks to fall into; the left being yours, whilst the right is controlled by one of thirteen computer alias, with an accompanying creature animation. The screen of your opponent is little more than a distraction, but is always amusing
to see a white Cyclops gorilla throw its arms up in a panic when it starts to lose. Setting off an aforementioned chain causes clear quirks to fall onto the computer’s screen which can only be removed by clearing adjacent quirks, speeding their downfall as it is a game of last man standing.
In addition to this is the infinitely amusing two player mode, set out in a similar layout to the challenge. With options of speed and preset-quirk handicaps for either player, players of different abilities can compete on an even playing field, and the opportunity to gloat with a ‘hardest’ victory over a player on ‘easy’ is always another option.
Assistance to people quaking at the prospect of taking on friends and family in two player need not panic, as a practice mode is supplied with some interesting rewards, such as a fat quirk, bigelow, eliminating four central rows of quirks by out and out flattening them, to assist when it becomes too much.
To top this is the crowning glory of quirks, found in the puzzle mode where predestined pairs of quirks are supplied to a given screen, with the aim of clearing the screen of all quirks. This supplies hours of amusement (with occasional outburst of shaking monitors while you cry out ‘why’ in a hysterical fit of rage as a sole yellow quirk remains) surmounting in some of the most satisfying moments any game has to offer in the genre
As with any game, quirk is far from flawless. First and foremost is it’s lack of depth, as it is in essence a game of falling blobs that vanish into oblivion when near other blobs…that’s it…really…nothing else. No real story is supplied to explain why the hell this is happening either, or why the computer players consist of twisted freaks of nature. Secondly is starting points, challenge lets a player start on any of the first 8 levels, but practice supplies no starting point other than very, very easy and puzzle mode offers no way of temporarily skipping a puzzle which just isn’t fair as some are near impossible.
Luckily a few little issues take little away fro what is a fantastic (albeit bizarre and short) game, one which is highly recommended by yours truly 7/10.
