Columns is one of the three games that put not only the Genesis, but Sega on the map. Columns was one of the biggest games to fight off Tetris and if you play you'll know why. It's is just as addictive and very brightly colored, with something other than just blocks!

The feel of the game is wonderful, setting times back to Greek and Roman, with the touch of jewels. It makes you feel like a god as you control the jewels. Sliding your bright colored pieces across the screen is easy and at high speeds, can be mesmerizing. The colors just make it beautiful to look at.

The music keeps you in pace with the game, it speeds up in danger, and when your level increases. Just as in Tetris, Columns allows a choice of music, all with the Greek and Roman feel as well. It keeps you wrapped with the game.

Thankfully in Columns there are tons of bonuses, especially for eliminating several rows of jewels at one time. Their are also special jewels that knock out all of the jewels it touches and and other jewels on the screen that match them. This can be a big help when your stack is getting to the top, and can boost your score a great deal.

The addition of Doubles play and Flash Columns, is warmly welcomed and keeps the game from going stale too fast. With so many varying levels and faster and faster game play, you'll never want to stop. I barely want to stop to write this review, I am addicted to this Columns world.

Genesis did a great job competing with Nintendo for a heck of a puzzler. If there's anything that beat Tetris, it's Columns. I suggest you give this one a try, especially to see why Sega was so amazing

I give Columns a 10 out of 10!

Aggort's Choice Game!

Columns was purchased/designed for one sole purpose, defeat/steal thunder from Nintendo to gain a slight upper hand on the next-gen consoles. After the original was a success, Sega needed a cash flow for their dying Game Gear that couldn't keep up with Tetris and its Gameboy. Sega made the obvious decision to port their famous puzzler and pit the two together. But thanks to an incredibly low demand for Game Gear and already low percentage of owners, the whole thing was a flop. But thanks to wonderful technology, we can relive those glory days and play the great games we missed, and believe me this game was a great game to have missed. You see, Columns isn't just a Tetris knock-off, it's a game targeted at taking Tetris out, level by level. It had everything Tetris had, simply redesigned. Amazing graphics, check. Simplistic but difficult to master gameplay, check. Fun, challenging gameplay, check. Great sound and music, check. Then it went one further, thanks to Game Gear it has color and more modes. Where Nintendo was geared toward a Russian theme, Sega alternatively used a Greco-Roman theme, and the war began.

Choose from three methods of play, Never Ending, Story, or Flash. In Never-ending, select your difficulty, level, music, and columns theme. In Flash, the flashing jewels must be removed. In the other two forms, you must keep your columns low enough, so they do not overflow off the screen, or you lose. As the game continues, the speed will increase and needed jewels become even more scarce. Keep up with the speed and increasing difficulty, rack up the best score for the longest time, or defeat the enemy in story mode!

Graphics-wise, this game makes a nice port. I was surprised by the vivid palette that this game presented and by how detailed the jewels were. They essentially looked like smaller versions of those found on the Genesis version. The addition of blocks is very welcoming; because of the smaller screen, the jewels would sometimes be difficult to distinguish and the blocks solve that problem. The theme is still very felt in this game, much to the delight of many of its players. The sound is still wonderful on this limiting technology, hearing each jewel land and shatter is great, and the music is superb for a portable game. Six different tracks will keep you from hearing the same thing over and over again!

This game is a must play for any puzzle fan out there, and does an outstanding piece of work to face up against a giant. Unfortunately it does have a few woes, that's why...

Super Columns clears up a score of 7.5 out of 10!