Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom brings classic mahjong solitaire to the PS3. Which brings me to the point that Mahjong Tales has a booster pack available via the PSN for $4.99. Mahjong Tales consists of four modes including Ancient Tales, Motion, Infinity and a multiplayer mode which can be played online or locally. In Mahjong you are presented with a non particular pattern or shape. In the game you will see patterns from a cross to an apple. The tiles that make up this shape consist of icons or numbers on them to coincide with a matching tile. Available tiles are lit up and tiles that are not available are grayed out since being covered by the available ones. You must find matching tiles that are lit up to clear the board. Clear the board and you win.
Infinity mode is basic Mahjong. Pick a pattern or puzzle, match tiles to clear the board and you win. Ancient Tales mode tells a story as you play through the puzzles. At the start you will be introduced to a story. The story is told by a narrator, only one who does voices from woman and men, think how that works out. After a few seconds of the story is told you will be given a puzzle to clear. Clear the puzzle and more of the story will be revealed. Finish the last puzzle to hear the end of the story.
In Motion mode you will be given a puzzle. As you start the puzzle tiles will start coming in from the bottom of the screen. These tiles continue from the bottom left of your screen to the top right around the puzzle you are given. A fire breathing dragon is waiting for the tiles at the top and if you don’t quickly match tiles in your puzzle to the tiles making there way around the screen, you will lose a life. Lose all three and it is game over. The fun thing about this mode is there is cannons and bombs, hammers, and time stoppers throughout the moving tiles that will aid you, use them sparingly though because they may not be there when you need them most. Multiplayer, sets you up against an opponent online or locally. The screen is divided in half vertically. Like the motion mode you will both use the cannons or other power ups, to gain a slight edge over one another trying to clear the board first. Only thing is I could never get matched up with an opponent online because the game never found an opponent for me. That tells me online MP is not a huge must for this game.
Now onto the booster pack. The booster pack adds 25 new level layouts that were previously not available. These layouts come as the animal pack and you can choose these in the infinity mode. You will get layouts that resemble fish, bugs, cats and even an elephant. Five new trophies were added for you to try and achieve as well.
You will also get to enjoy a lay out editor where you can create and share your own puzzles. The lay out editor is very user friendly and enables you to create a puzzle in minutes. The editor gives you an open map, and you will start out on level one, with the ability to stack tiles up to level eight. The puzzles you create can be saved and played in the infinity mode, where you can choose the background of your choice while trying to clear your own personal puzzle.
Nothing was implemented into the other two modes, which is a shame because I enjoyed the stories in Ancient tales mode, although horribly narrated and had bland animations. Motion mode is fun and puts a twist on mahjong, but without any new reason to play either of these two modes over again it leaves a bad taste.
The good-The lay out editor is great and easy to use. The fact that others can play your puzzle and you can share it is a good idea. The animal pack given to you in Infinity mode lends 25 new and creative lay outs to play on.
The bad-What you’re given does not dictate that it is worth $4.99. No new stories in Ancient Tales or implementations too Motion mode leaves a lot more game to be played out.
Overall: 6.5/10 (does not reflect full game score) Mahjong is still mahjong and new layouts add a new experience. The basis of the game is to clear tiles from given layouts which is very fun and entertaining. If you like Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom and enjoy the game of Mahjong, then you should enjoy the the lay out editor and the creativeness the new animal layouts bring. Otherwise that’s all the booster pack has to offer.
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