Just when I thought the PSP couldn't take any more puzzle games, Capcom comes along with Capcom Puzzle World, a 5-in-1 compilation that takes a journey back in time to the classic days of arcade puzzle gaming and represents eras gone by with some of the most unique and addictive puzzle gameplay around.

Of its five included titles, Capcom Puzzle World's headliner is unquestionably Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - and for good reason. Fusing together the simple block-based puzzling of Tetris and the competitive dueling of the Street Fighter games, Super Puzzle Fighter has you taking on either a CPU or live opponent with one of eight available characters from the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers franchises - favorites like Ryu, Felicia, Morrigan and Chun-Li included - in a battle to link together and clear like-colored falling gems from the playing field, with cleared block chains powering your chosen fighter avatar to begin duking it out with your opponent's in the center of the screen. As you clear clusters of gems away and pull off combo chains, your opponent's play area becomes jammed up with counter gems that drop down from the top of the screen and block off potential gem links, seriously throwing a wrench into their works. The gameplay, though familiar in certain areas, is fast paced and has a distinctly competitive aura about it that not many other puzzle games can match. The only small setback is the shallow mode count, as you basically just go against the CPU or wirelessly (Ad Hoc only) with a friend, with only a few slight option variations to mix things up.

Taking up the next three spots on this puzzletastic UMD is a trio of Buster Bros. Titles - Buster Bros., Super Buster Bros. and Buster Buddies. The name of the game in these titles is to move a little guy back and forth in various 2D platform-like stages, firing a harpoon gun (and other weapon power-ups) up at a mass of balloons bouncing around the level in order to pop every last one before time runs out. Once popped, larger balloons gradually split apart into smaller balloons until they can't divide any more. It's an incredibly simplistic concept but one that is surprisingly challenging and addictive in small spurts, even more so if you team up with a friend. All three games do play exactly the same though, with only a couple of option and mode differences setting each one apart, which reduces their collective impact. As a quirky bonus option, you can pause the game at any time and snap screenshots to your PSP memory stick that can then be used as custom background wallpapers in the Buster Bros. trio - nothing special, but it's kind of fun to tinker around with.

In the final leg of the Capcom Puzzle World compilation comes Block Block, a derivative Breakout clone that, although mildly enjoyable, is by far the collection's weakest link. Like Breakout, you move a paddle along the bottom of the screen in an effort to ricochet a ball into various patterns of breakable blocks floating above - nothing new or different at all. This basic gameplay is all well and good, but unfortunately both the analog nub and d-pad controls have been poorly implemented, making it excruciatingly frustrating at times just trying to nudge the paddle into place to hit the ball back into the field of play. What's also disappointing is the lack of optimization for the PSP display; rather than adapting to the widescreen format like the other four games, Block Block is vertically oriented in the center of the screen, with two massive chunks of black space on either side, thereby squashing down the view.

Capcom Puzzle World is a fun-filled puzzle set with colorful (yet dated) 2D visuals and nostalgic arcade audio across the board. Block Block may be shaky, but the three Buster Bros. titles are more than solid and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a prime cut of grade-A puzzle action. Capcom could have released a standalone PSP version of Super Puzzle Fighter that would've been worth hunting down by itself, but with this and four other puzzlers on the side there's no denying the timeless entertainment value that Capcom Puzzle World has to offer.

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).