Being a huge puzzle game fan since my introduction to videogames, the prospect of an entirely new game that didn't base itself on falling or cascading objects, much like virtually every successful puzzle title out there (with a few exceptions of course), was exciting to me. Sure, the story and art style might not be for everyone (very quirky, very Japanese - but we'll get to that), however any fan of puzzle games, or just those looking for a game that will test their reflexes and quick strategic abilities, will definitely find a lot to love about Puchi Puchi Virus' unique 'linking' style gameplay.

On the lower screen you see your playing field, littered with 'viruses' of various colors. Your job, as with almost any puzzle game, is to make them go away while new ones continually form. To do this you must tap three of the same colors in a row, forming a transparent triangular field of the same color between them. Tapping one of the three after the triangle is formed makes them all vanish, clearing those three from the screen. If you tap a color and fail to form a triangle in time then they turn to stone and are rendered useless. These stone shapes can then be cleared by trapping them within a triangle for bonus points, or by using a special pill that reverts them back to normal. After you form a triangle, there is a period where you can leave it before 'detonating' it, or before it turns to stone, which gives you time to chain more triangles together.

When you create a triangle field, any virus within it is automatically activated, as if you had tapped it. For instance, if you have two yellow shapes inside your field, you simply need to tap any other yellow piece on the board to activate another triangle, and so on. However, if you fail to activate a second triangle but have pieces within a triangle field, these turn to stone, just as if you had tapped them but failed to form a complete triangle in time. As you learn to play you'll learn to see possible triangles as you go and quickly link up huge chains, even after you've detonated one before it's fully finished going off.

These are the basic rules of play for Puchi Puchi and it doesn't change much from here. However, given the storyline of the game, the conditions for victory can. You play the role of a heroic doctor who is the only one that can cure a huge outbreak of the Puchirus, a virus that turns people into various breeds of monsters. Patients line up at your clinic and ask for help, and that's that. Each patient has a certain victory condition, such as clearing a specific amount of virus from the screen, or creating a large chain (or a series of them). The story is a nice backdrop for the game and gives the top screen something to do (a background of your clinic and various characters running around in a state of panic!), as well as lending the game a nice visual identity. With the huge surge in anime popularity over the last decade, Puchi Puchi Virus is definitely going to appeal to anime fans and youngsters visually, while the addicting and intuitive gameplay will keep the hardcore and casual players coming back for more.

Matching those graphics is the sound, which like I said actually helps the game become more intuitive by offering a sound effect for each action that happens onscreen, allowing you to kind of get another sense of what's happening by focusing on sounds while you also scan the playing field with your eyes. As you keep playing you'll constantly get a better understanding for how the game plays and works, and how to really get the most out of it. You'll have plenty of opportunity as well, with dozens and dozens of patients coming through on a non-stop basis. There's even a single cart multiplayer mode thrown in for good measure!

There isn't a lot that's wrong with Puchi Puchi Virus outside of the limited nature of the whole experience. There's no bonus content or modes and no variation to the basic gameplay - you just get the multiplayer and the single player, which is just basically replaying the same game with more shapes, stricter limits and an overall faster pace. Still, for puzzle games it's a bit greedy to really ask for more. Puchi Puchi Virus offers a superb and (most importantly) original puzzle experience that anybody can pick up and gradually start to understand, to the point where they start pulling off big chains without even thinking about it. This definitely comes highly recommended and should be an essential to those who use their DS for quick pick up and play sessions!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).