Wetrix

Wetrix attempts to tread similar ground to 1997's 3D puzzler success Tetrisphere, but goes a little too far in exploring a more abstract concept that allows it to show off impressive digital water effects. Here, wall pieces drop from the sky Tetris-style onto a platform, interspersed with clusters of water. The idea is to build a leak-free wall around the edge of the platform so that the water doesn't slip off and end the game. Also interspersed are fireballs which dry up the water, bombs which blow holes in your platform and more. It sounds interesting, and is for a time, but Wetrix's insanely high difficulty, overcomplexity and fidgety controls make for a frustrating and unapproachable experience.

Wetrix is the type of game that is very frustrating if you dive into it without taking some time to really think about how to achieve your goal, which is: don't have the water overflow beyond the edge of the map to the extent that the water meter reaches its maximum. If you don't set up your land and use items that fall from the sky strategically, you may find yourself getting a game over within just a few minutes of starting gameplay.

Water in various degrees of size as represented by round droplets will appear for you to place on the map, which then move towards the map's edges gradually. There are many ways to prevent or delay flow of water: red arrows will build landmasses in a line, L-shapes, or squares with empty centers. These pieces will fall one after another, interspersed with other items. You can more effectively contain water in squares and when there is a high wall to prevent it from spilling out of the edge of the map. However, you also have to contend with the earthquake meter, which fills as you build your landmasses ever-higher.

Green arrows will lower landmasses and bombs will completely destroy the square you land one in, so these items can help you lower the earthquake meter, but you will have to rebuild in those areas with the red arrows in time to prevent water from spilling out. If you can't prevent an earthquake in time, the tall landmasses you've worked so hard to build will collapse and water will go spilling out of the map from every direction.

At this point, you will have to hope for a fireball, one of the most helpful items for mitigating earthquake damage, and just all around helpful no matter when you get one. The fireball will zap away a large amount of water within a certain radius of where you drop them. Green arrows are useful here also to remove any barriers to getting to the most water possible for the fire to zap away at once. You will see that you have a fireball coming as your next item when one is on its way.

Interlopers like ice cubes will appear, which will freeze over your water and then melt, unleashing even more water to deal with. The way to prevent this is getting the ice cube to land on dry land if you can clear a path before it falls. You will also have to deal with the occasional rain adding a bit more water to the pool.

There is also the matter of point multipliers, which are possible if you have ducks in the square pools (square landmasses stacked and filled with water) and rainbows which appear when you have reached a high threshold of water on your map; big points, but dangerous for getting you ever-closer to maxing out your water meter.

The game also contains a multiplier mode, practice, pro mode, and various challenges to complete such as surviving 1 or 5 minutes in a faster mode or after a certain number of pieces.

When I first played this game, I got around 700 points, then around 50k the next day, followed by over 100k the next. Watching gameplay videos definitely helps with understanding strategy and really seeing what it is you have to do (build walls all along the perimeter, create a few square ponds for ducks to get multipliers, etc.)

Though I grew up with the Nintendo 64, I only encountered this game at rental stores and never actually played it. Once you get the hang of it, it has just the right amount of challenge in classic gameplay; if you get bored of that there are enough other modes to keep puzzle fans occupied.