There's no real need for a big introduction here, really.
Frustrations
Why no need for an introduction? Because Planet Puzzle League is so mind-numbingly dull that I don't want to even bother writing one if I'm being honest.
The core gameplay involves your stylus being used to switch the position of two blocks, or perhaps more accurately two cells of the grid. So far, so very match-three, right? Not so fast.
Obviously, in a match-three kind of game gravity plays its part in so far as things fall down, but in Planet Puzzle League, the fact that things fall down is the only way you can manipulate the grid into doing what you need to do to clear matching blocks. Plucking out a block from a tower to fill up a shaft allows you to slide blocks on top of it to where they need to be, for example.
This is best shown off in a video, but it's too dull to put any effort into making one, but you can imagine it in these images of a game against the computer. Planet Puzzle League has several modes of play, but the main attraction is having your grid on one side and your opponent's grid looming on the other, and under this ruleset, good things I do - chaining the removal of blocks, removing four or five of a kind and so on - dumps a load of garbage onto my opponent's grid.
Usually, these garbage blocks are scary reminders of how close your screen is to filling up, but in Planet Puzzle League, you can just pull their foundations out from underneath them and keep working away towards your goal of more points or whatever.
At some point, I assume when the computer's grid filled up, I won the opening bout of this three-game contest.
There was no game three, and nor will there ever be.
Final Word
Ugh, Planet Puzzle League is dull. You wouldn't think it was looking at the colourful screens, but it really, really is. I don't even want to form coherent thoughts to describe how tedious it was to play, and would rather move onto blogging about the next awful game which is coming right up after this one.
I must admit to not quite getting the hang of it. I went through the tutorials and saw all about how you can switch the positions of blocks to sort of intercept those that are falling down due to gravity, but could I ever pull this off in a game? Could I ever figure out which block I'd need and were quick enough to make use of the skill?
No, not at all. Not a chance. And when I read that the online competitive community for this game will kick your arse, all I can easily see why - there's more going on than meets the eye. But my goodness, do I not want to see it.
I don't even want to see what high speed, high stakes competitive Planet Puzzle League looks like. It just doesn't interest me as a puzzle game. It barely interests me as a game full stop. Is it on here because it's different? Because of a ruthless online multiplayer collective? I don't know and don't care.
Hope I haven't offended any die-hard Planet Puzzle League fans...
Fun Facts
Your playing grid is 6 spaces wide by 12 spaces tall.
Planet Puzzle League, developed by Intelligent Systems, first released in 2007.
Version played: Nintendo DS, 2007, via emulation.