Capcom Puzzle World [PSP]

The PSP, and the companies that publish titles for it, are in an interesting position. The system's bread and butter of late has been reissue compilations, but with the development of the PlayStation Network it will soon be difficult to justify full price for a set of games that could be released individually online. Case in point is Capcom Puzzle World, which is really a port of Super Puzzle Fighter II with a handful of other, less interesting games thrown in for good measure.

Do you need to spend thirty bucks on this collection? That depends upon your devotion to Super Puzzle Fighter II, and your ability to overlook a few minor flaws.

As a revision of the game many of us wasted hours with years ago, this version of Super Puzzle Fighter isn't bad at all. It's got the same basic Tetris-clone gameplay, where gems and jewels drop from the top of the screen, and must be grouped into lines which either self-destruct or have to be moved or destroyed with the aid of other objects, depending upon your choice of game mode.

Clearing lines on your side of the screen drops obstacles onto the enemy's side, and every move is represented by one of several super-deformed characters from the Street Fighter or Darkstalkers series. With a variety of options that push the challenge from simple to super cerebral, this is a triumph of puzzle gameplay. Only the stretched-out graphics and lack of online competition hamper this port.

Move away from Puzzle Fighter, however, and you've got a paltry collection of extras. The three Buster Brothers games are on deck, each with a modified version of balloon breaking gameplay. None of the three has aged very well. And Block Block, the final game, is merely a passable brick breaking game. None of these four titles hold a candle to Super Puzzle Fighter, and as a package the collection pales next to Capcom's other two excellent retro offerings for the PSP.

From the consumer's point of view, Super Puzzle Fighter is best served up as a PlayStation Network download, or would be if the PS3's installed base was much wider. And unless you're a SPF fanatic, we'd advise waiting for the inevitable download to be offered, as Capcom Puzzle World isn't a compelling enough product to trade for thirty hard-won dollars.