Xi Go - Devil Dice 3

A Video Game Review

by P Sama

            While the US is showing a steady drought in puzzle games (a re-release for Puzzle Fighter? No thanks), the Japanese are still churning them out in full force.  Most recently is a quirky sequel in the all but shunned Devil Dice series. Referred to as “Xi” overseas, Xi Go is the third in the Devil Dice Series, and what a momentous package it is!

            For those of you who are unfamiliar with the game Devil Dice, the premise is pretty complicated in words, but is very simple in practice.  The character that you control is a little red devil character and the playfield is a 7x7 grid.  The playfield begins initially layered with dice in various areas of the board and others popping up as time passes.  The goal of the player is to use the devil to walk atop the dice and rearrange the dice in accordance to their face values (# on top of the die).  These arrangements would be where the # of matching dice touching is equivalent to the # on the dice themselves. For example, two 2’s, three 3’s, four 4’s, and so forth.  When this occurs, the dice return to the ground from whence they came.  The player can continue to chain the dice my matching more like dice to the sinking dice before they completely submerge. Game over occurs when the entire playfield is completely covered with dice.

            The first thing worth mentioning in this review is the new style of play introduced in this sequel.  Many people actually believed that the game wasn’t chaotic enough as it was, so the developers decided to create the “Explosion” play style.  With this style, no longer do the dice submerge into the floor when matched up, but instead begin to blink.  At this time, they have been ignited and will explode in a set period of time, determined by the # on the die face.  The player can continue to chain it to slow the explosion and collect more points, but if the dice blow and you’re either in the vicinity of the blast on the ground (determined also by the # on the die face) or on the dice themselves, you die.  Game over…simple as that.  To make things even more complicated, if the blast connects with a die that either has the same # or one less than the exploding die, then it/they too will ignite.  If that sounds a bit complicated, the game actually comes with an English manual insert as well to guide you.  Believe me when I say that this is probably this reviewer’s favorite play style introduced to the series thus far.

            In accordance with the new play style, three more play modes were also introduced and they are as follows:

#1) Quest Mode:  Probably the most random addition to the series, this mode takes the exploding dice and has the player use them as units of attack. And it even comes with a story…the game centers around the five little devil children (called Aqui) trying to find their way home after getting lost during a night of runaway mischief.  The quest takes them through five themed worlds each consisting of three stages and a boss round.  During the stages, you are placed on a course where you must get to one end of the stage to the other, in typical Devil Dice fashion, without getting killed by the monsters patrolling the area.  By using the method described above, you can blow up the monsters, thus clearing the path and moving on.  Now, the player CAN avoid most of them and still get to the end of the level, but you cant get a “PERFECT” rating on the stage without killing all who oppose your colorful Aqui (oh, and you cant die either).  The boss rounds basically consist of a large scale baddie that you need to damage multiple times using various tactics that are generally unique to each boss.  For example, one boss needs to be killed by igniting dice and them getting him to eat them before they explode.  Larger #s on the die inflict a greater amt of damage on the boss, so the fights can be very quick, or VERY slow.

#2) Attack Mode:  The manual gives you a password to input in the Attack list that’s within the Trial menu. When you do this,  you are given specifications which to play under such as, “reach 10000 points in 2 minutes.”  Using these and succeeding allows you to log onto http://xi-go.sceh.com.tw and register in the national rankings (just tell them you’re from Hong Kong…worked for me!).  Suffice it to say, a little more bang for your buck.

#3) And finally, they added a new option for the Wars mode. For those of you lucky enough to have friends that like this kind of thing, and the comp AI for us lonely folk, you can go against each other in a battle where the object is to detonate dice near blocks that represent your opponents health blocks.  Suffice it to say that it gets very hectic with five guys trying to destroy each other HP die while trying to protect their own.

            And I’m betting there are a few readers that feel that they would get tired of Explosion mode and afterwards would have no desire to play this game…well those of you are indeed wrong.  The developers also saw fit to place the other styles of Xi play in this version of the game as well. They have to be unlocked but that can easily be done in about twenty minutes (play trial mode with explosion and then with each new style afterwards).  These styles are Classic style, the DD1 style of play where the dice sink into the floor, and Jumbo style, where the player can actually jump, both with and without a die underneath him.  You can even play War mode using variations based on the style that you are playing for a good dose of multiplayer mayhem variety.

            Finally, I get to the point of the review that I don’t like, in most cases, and thats the negative aspects of this game.  While the music in Xi Go is still good to play to (well, this IS a puzzle game), they decided to remove the option to choose from the various music styles. While this isn’t a large problem, I did enjoy being able to select what I was playing to based on what I was in the mood to listen to at the time.  Whereas that was a small complaint, I do feel that the omission of a puzzle mode similar to Devil Dice 1 was pure blasphemy.  Maybe the developers felt that Quest mode was enough to tide players over, but personally, I spent a large chunk of my initial play time with the first game just attempting to solve those puzzle doozies. I can only imagine what they could have done by incorporating all three styles of play.

            But those small complaints wont keep me from recommending this gaming heavily to all puzzle fans out there. It’s no Magical Drop, but in my opinion, there has yet to be a puzzle game that defeats that one.  IF you have the means to play import PS2 titles, get off your taters and purchase this game…before the Aqui come in through your bedroom window and beat the 6x6’s out of you!