Ghost Mania is a falling block puzzle game downloadable on the Wii. The rules are simple. Colored blocks are arranged at the bottom and top of the well, and you can shift around the ones on the top, like in Tetris Attack or Puzzle League. You can then drop two at a time onto the playfield. Same colored blocks will merge together, so you want to match blocks when you can. When you drop a special colored jewel piece, blocks of that same color adjacent to it will disappear and you’ll get points, similar to Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo.

You can see a little bit of the blocks above that will fall into place after you drop the highlighted set, so you can plan ahead to make chains and combos when you get a chance. But you must hurry in some of the modes, as the blocks will slowly rise up and you have a limited time to figure out which blocks to drop. When the blocks from the bottom of the well reach the top, it’s Game Over.

There are four main modes of play in Ghost Mania. In Arcade Mode, you have to reach a set score to advance to the next stage. In Puzzle Mode, you have a certain number of moves to clear all the blocks on the bottom. Keep matching blocks to get as high of a score as possible in Endless Mode. And finally in Party Mode, two players can challenge each other at the same time. Only problem with the two player mode is there’s no option to play against a CPU opponent that I could find. But at only 500 Wii points (about five bucks), Ghost Mania is a great deal for puzzle fans.

Kid Factor:

Reading skill is helpful, but not required, as there are pictures cues explaining the rules. Plus, the game is pretty simple to figure out just by playing as you go. The difficulty in some of the modes ramps up pretty quickly, though, so younger players might need help. With multiple save files and two-player modes, the whole family can enjoy Ghost Mania, which is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews