1996 Etona

This is a delightful little puzzler with a unique twist.  It's a standard two-row, one-column drop, rotatable to both horizonal and vertical, match up the colours and try to set off chains type of thing.  Corners are fine, diagonals don't count.  The difference here is that the gems are replaced with coins.  Connecting, say, five one-yen pieces removes the 1's and spawns a 5.  Two fives connect to make a ten, five tens for a fifty, two fifties for a hundred, five 100's for a 500.  Connecting two 500's changes up for a 1,000 yen note, which disappears from the screen and awards a points bonus.

The difference this makes to the game is far greater than you might think.  It adds a huge amount of variety and depth, and makes this an immediately addictive and satisfying puzzler.

Range of game modes is pretty standard, but there's a pleasing feature in the solo score-attack-type mode that rewards further play - blocks fall at a steadily increasing rate, which is to be expected, but after they start falling as fast as they're going to, the game loops back round to normal speed.  This is pretty cool in a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind of way, and suggests that it's possible to carry on playing indefinitely.

Presentation is... well, it's cats.  Cats and cats and cats.  Graphics and characters are big, colourful and cute.  Unfortunately, the musical score is very limited, with only two or three seperate tracks, catchy though they be.

There's a lack of attention paid to the two-player mode, with no character or handicap select.  Furthermore, although this is certainly a score-based game, your score is devalued in competitive mode as the first player to allow the coins to mount up past the top loses regardless of their score.

Nonetheless, Mouja is a pleasingly addictive game.  The GF and I played it for a good hour and a half last night, although to be fair, after a while we switched to taking turns on the solo score attack mode, which feels more satisfying to play.

A two-player score attack mode would have been a welcome addition to what otherwise feels like a solid, well-thought-out and well-presented game, which has found a place in my Favourites list.  If you're a puzzle fan, it should be in yours too.