Pokemon Battle Trozei - A Miiverse journey

I haven't always played puzzle games, but when I finally delved into the genre (I thank Pushmo and Tetris) I loved it.

I have always played Pokemon games, so it stands to reason that I would enjoy the recently released eShop title Pokemon Battle Trozei for Nintendo 3DS. In the touch-based game, the player must line up 3 or more of the same Pokemon head on the bottom screen to clear them. Matching 4, then 3, of the same head unleashes a "Trozei Chance," during which matching just 2 or more Pokemon heads will suffice, so as the heads above fall down to the playing field, the player can rapidly make matches to pull off major combos that may just lead to clearing the whole Trozei box. The type of Pokemon the player matches first will be the type of attack unleashed on wild Pokemon, and the objective is to catch, or Trozei, the Pokemon in each stage by depleting their health to zero. The wild Pokemon can attack back, however, so the player must also keep an eye on his/her health bar, displayed on the sides of the bottom screen.

As you can see, there is a lot to Pokemon Battle Trozei. And as I've mentioned before, it was very difficult for me to get the hang of it. With time and practice, however, I have come to really enjoy the game. It wasn't an easy road to walk, though:

Initially, I was very discouraged. A C-rank on the first level?!

If I did any better on attempt 2, there would be "NEW!" signs next to my scores.

I finally got a B-rank on level 1! I was still not enjoying the game much, however...

As you can see, the health bar on both sides of the screen is hugely depleted.

I commented on the same Miiverse post. My first A-rank!

The next level...

The tips really did help me a lot!

I finally learned how to apply support Pokemon to a level, but I still had a hard time surpassing my old level 1 record...

Pokemon Battle Trozei is out now on the Nintendo 3DS eShop

On February 13, 2014, Nintendo surprised us with the announcement of a sequel to 2006's DS title Pokemon Trozei. The new game would release for the Nintendo 3DS with the title Pokemon Battle Trozei.

Well, the game has arrived, and you can now download the E-rated title from the Nintendo 3DS eShop for $7.99. I've put a little bit of time into the game, and my thoughts are mixed. I never played the original, so I had a lot to learn about the fast-paced puzzle gameplay when I began. As I mentioned on Miiverse, I'm having a difficult time grasping the gameplay. I played the first stage 3 times over, only achieving a mediocre B-rank (for the first stage, that's probably pretty sorry) by the end.

I'm not an expert on the puzzle genre, by any means, but I do expect games in the genre to be simple to learn (but with depth) and really addictive. Pokemon Battle Trozei has a simple enough concept: use the touch screen to match 3 or more Pokemon heads to attack and capture (or "Trozei") wild Pokemon. However, performing advanced techniques and setting up combos has me at a complete loss. When you clear a line of Pokemon, the rest start falling down to fill in the spaces, and more lines may match up. This is how combos work, but I can't predict them, and they happen so quick, my brain can't keep up with the madness.

So the addictive quality I look for in puzzle games is not apparent in Battle Trozei. However, I do plan on giving the game a few more chances...just in small chunks, maybe once a day, as it's rather maddening to play a video game I can't fully understand.