Columns was a decent enough game for its time. It would take a few years before everyone realized that two-player competitive modes are what people really wanted from puzzlers, so back in 1990, just being able to drop blocks and match colors by yourself was enough. Sure, Columns included a two-player mode, but it kind of missed the point. Though players could compete for points and best times in Flash mode, the lack of attacks, interference, or any kind of interaction between both sides of the screen always made it feel less like you were competing with someone and more like you just happened to be playing Columns at the same time as them.
Columns III says "funk dat." With competitive multiplayer for up to five players at once, you won't find a better puzzler on the Genesis.
The basics remain the same as in the original Columns. Drop some jewels. Match up three or more of the same color horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and they disappear. Repeat forever. Matching jewels in Columns III also increases your attack counter, which you can engage at any time by pressing the attack button. Making bigger matches or creating combos makes the attack counter rise faster, allowing you to screw your opponent repeatedly and give him or her less and less screen space to work with. Fun times for all.
Chaining together particularly big combos causes a glowing jewel appear. Break this jewel by matching it with other gems of the same color and your opponent will be hit with a randomly selected special move. Some affect the way your enemy's jewels fall, while a particularly nasty one erases all color from the opposite side of the screen. Matches can get pretty mean if they go on long enough.
All of these new gameplay elements also apply to Columns III's redesigned one-player story mode, which plays out as a series of challenges against an AI-controlled second player. This mode also allows you to pause at any time and select from a variety of items that can turn the tide of a battle in your favor. It's kind of unfair, given that the CPU doesn't get the same benefits, but it helps even things out when you get to the later bosses, which are all kind of bastardly.
Columns III also supports up to five players in certain competitive modes, which is more than a little amazing, given how few Genesis games featured simultaneous play for more than two players. I haven't been able to test out gameplay with five players yet, but it seems like it would be worth checking out, on the odd chance that you happen to be in the same room as four other people who want to play Columns.
Really, I can't think of any complaints about this one. Columns III is a great sequel. The new competitive focus expands on the Columns formula in ways you wouldn't expect, the single-player modes are more compelling and fun than the original Columns, and the multiplayer looks like it would be a lot of fun with the right crowd. Buy it!
Here's a video showing the kind of combo I can only get by accident. Do you think anyone in the world is seriously good at Columns? This looks more like luck than anything, though I'm probably just being ignorant as usual.
