Ah … the fun, exciting, and often frustrating world of puzzle games. Any big time fan of Tetris can recall hours upon hours spent twisting and fitting oddly shaped blocks together to see how high they could rack up the score, and how quickly they could clear out the screen. Egg Mania hits the PS2 as a new … somewhat similar, but somewhat unique ... gaming experience.

The concept behind Egg Mania is relatively simple. You select one of 8 little egg characters, each with their own personality like a DJ, a Devil (deviled egg maybe?), or a punk rocker. Move your egg to various locations, where you will spend your time in each one catching blocks of various shapes and fitting them together not to clear the screen, but build a tower to reach a hot air balloon waiting to carry you off to your next destination. Some modes have a CPU opponent trying to do the same in sort of a battle mode, while other modes are solo and have you attempting to beat the clock.

The controls to Egg Mania are simple as well. The left analog stick will make your egg hop around the screen, catching falling blocks. The X button will cause the egg to hop up and slam it into place, but unlike Tetris … you can also get rid of ones that you don’t want or need at the time. They can be rotated however you want them to be as well, so you can achieve the best fit overall. Sound simple? Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds up front.

As you go about building your tower of blocks and trying to beat your opponent, there are also various hazards to compete with which slow down or mess up your progress. As you construct your building, your opponent will be doing the same. Some things which fall are not blocks, but are instead hammers, bombs, and thunderclouds that you or your opponent can toss at one another … each one capable of doing it’s own damaging thing to screw you up. Hammers will either knock you down into the water below, or will start making your tower collapse, for example. Bombs remove parts of the structure as well, leaving a gap that needs to be filled.

The levels themselves pose some issues for the tower builder as well, since the rising water will cause parts of the building to shake and collapse as the water level rises. Gaps can be more devastating to you than a thrown hazard can be, especially at crucial moments when you are in a dead heat race. Therefore, it doesn't do any good to just keep throwing piece after piece on top of one another, since it will be unstable and fall anyway. In addition, each stage contains things like swooping vultures, spiders, or big air bubbles, which will either steal pieces out of your hands or knock you off the wall as well. When you hit the water, it’s not over, but eats up some valuable seconds waiting for a fish or whatnot to bring you back up to the top, and can mean the difference in winning or losing if it happens one too many times.

On a good note, this game is pretty fun and pretty challenging, and has enough little modes to it to keep it interesting for a while. The biggest issues come in with the learning curve, for one. The first level … soft boiled … is really simple and doesn't put up much of a fight. Switch over to the hard boiled stage, and it can get downright impossible … or so it seems … to get past the fourth stage, especially after going past easy mode. Since you have a limited number of continues, you can’t just keep going until you decide to stop.

The second issue I had revolves around the characters themselves. Oh sure … they’re cute and have their own little personalities, but choosing one or the other doesn't add any particular strengths or weaknesses, it’s purely a cosmetic decision. Therefore, unlocking one of the hidden characters does little more on a satisfaction note than give you a different looking one to play with, and it would have been nice if there were bonuses like the ability to move faster or jump higher thrown in as well.

Graphically, this game is very colorful and very simple, but that’s part of the whole enjoyment to it. Each character has a unique, cartoony kind of look to it, and the level designs are bright and somewhat busy in the background. The little cutscenes which play while you are waiting for a stage to load are also entertaining and sometimes funny, and they were done very well. The sound is made up of simple mechanized tunes, which don’t do anything bad … but don’t do much more than fill in some background noise either.

Overall, It would be safe to say that this game can be a solid and fun purchase for the puzzle gamer in the family. It has enough going for it to keep it enjoyable overall, and the hard challenge in later levels and difficulties can be part of the fun for some. If you’re not much into puzzle games, this one probably won’t do much to change your mind in that department.   

Gameplay: 7.9
Super simple gameplay, and enough modes to keep you entertained for a while. There are some unlockable eggs, but they do little more than just give a different looking character to play with.

Graphics: 7.2
Not bad, just very simple. The colors are very bright and detailed, and the cutscenes used during the load screens are entertaining the first couple of times through. Each egg has it’s own distinct look which sets it apart from the rest, including a robot, a suit of armor, and an afro.

Sound: 7.3
Once again, simple. The in game sounds are blocks smacking each other, screeching from a level monster, or the crumbling sound of concrete. The music doesn't do anything spectacular, and provides more of a background noise effect, but it’s not repetitive or aggravating either.

Difficulty: Medium
I’m going middle of the road on this one for a couple of reasons. First off, the soft boiled mode if easy to play and gives a good intro into the game. It can be played at any time, so keep it simple if you want to. If you move to Hard boiled mode, it gets a lot more difficult, but you can select between easy, medium, and hard. There is also a nifty tutorial mode to help you learn the game mechanics as well.  

Concept: 7.5
A new twist to an old title, but overall the same thing at it’s core. Fit blocks together and try to mess up your opponent.

Multiplayer: 7.8
For two puzzle gamers, this can be a fun and enjoyable experience. The two player mode can be played in a duel fashion or “bomb mode”, which has players throwing bombs at each other, but this is where the real fun can be found.  

Overall: 7.3
A fun and challenging title which can be enjoyable for a while … but only to fans of the puzzle genre. It’s a good game, but won’t do much to turn the heads of the FPS or RPG veterans either.