Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - Tiles of Fate

Nintendo
Tiles of Fate

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
6.00
5.25
6.00
6.00
Votes: 4
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: SlowMotionRiot Date: Dec 16, 2001
All you puzzle fans out there should really like this one. It's a shame that, since it was unlicensed, probably no one got to take a good look at it and give it the credit it deserves. In a nutshell, Tiles of Fate is a mahjongg variant, almost as addictive as the original, where there's a whole mass of differently designed playing pieces--tiles--set in a design on the board. You remove tiles from the board by finding a matching pair, and so remove two at a time. There's a time limit that ticks away as you play; when you get a matching set of tiles, you get a little more time added to your total. The catch is, to remove tiles they need to have an open edge--you can't grab one in the middle. Secondly, the open edge for both pieces needs to have a straight line path between the two. It may sound kind of confusing if you put it into words, but veteran mahjongg players on the PC should get the hang of it pretty quickly. Or at least, accept the rules grudgingly.

Graphics: 6
The game offers some nice tile designs, though there are always that lot of tiles that look so much alike--any of the red-black designs--that you'll be going back and forth between them growling and wondering why the pair doesn't match at first glance. Then again, every mahjongg game has that set of tiles that always appears alike at first glance, so you'll get used to it.
Imagine my surprise when I saw a puzzle game with cutscenes...! That's right. When you start the game, you get to see some panoramic views of samurai warriors crossing the battlefield to kick off the game. Every time you beat a level group, after the fourth stage you see a little samurai gallop up to a castle and enter, replacing the battle standard with another--supposedly yours. It's fun to look at for a while, but after you've seen it a few times you begin to expect more of a payoff than the same little scene over and over again.

Sound: 5
The soundtrack is pretty engaging when the game begins and when you view the cutscenes, but nothing stands out as spectacular. The music for the puzzle levels is fine background work. In the long musical history of Nintendo, there are some compositions that grate on your nerves after a while, but for Tiles of Fate, the music recedes into the background so you can get frustrated about the controls instead.

Gameplay: 6
There was not much to this game, to be honest. The toughest part of the game is figuring out just how two matching tiles can't be picked off the board. From what I've been able to garner from trial and error, the two tiles need to:
A: Have matching designs (of course),
B: Have the same open edge on any side (both must have the top side open, or the bottom side open, etc.) and
C: Possess some form of straight-line path between them.
Warning--this gets trickier when things like the red bricks show up, closing off sides of tiles with no way to remove them.
Players need to press a button again, once they've chosen a pair of matching tiles, to confirm their selections; this gets kind of annoying after a while, especially if you're pressed for time and you're in a tile-hunting frenzy.
There were some special icons you find at times when you collect a matching pair of tiles; move the cursor over them and press the 'A' button to collect them. Unfortunately, since I didn't have the manual I could figure out only the most obvious one--pressing 'select' to bring the cursor up over the yellow banner icon at the right of the play field and then pressing 'A' removes a pair of tiles for you. This is a good option to have, since sometimes you may be looking for matching pairs in a panic, and you might need to buy some time. The other two items--a lightning bolt, and a yin-yang icon--may do some things like stop time for a short period, but I regret to say since those effects weren't so obvious, I couldn't tell.

Overall: 6
Since there is no manual to be found, I was at a loss for a lot of this game. I'm sure that the lack of popularity for this title, apart from it being an unlicensed puzzle game, is that it doesn't use 'traditional' mahjongg rules; I mean 'traditional' in the sense of the many, many versions of mahjongg on the PC that puzzle fans have played for years and years. Being a puzzle fan, and a mahjongg fan in particular, I looked to the game with somewhat a more open mind than the average gamer, I suppose. Figuring out the logic of picking tiles is an enjoyable puzzle in itself, I suppose. And many players are used to seeing multiple levels of mahjongg tiles stacked on one another; sadly, I saw none of these. I haven't beaten the game, I confess, but I got up to level four and the challenges consisted of only more intricate designs and unmovable blocks. And what's with the inevitable beating of every level? Mahjongg players through the ages have become accustomed to finishing a game with several unmatched tiles left over. We love that sort of thing; it's part of mahjongg's masochistic charm.
To sum up gameplay, I'll say that if you're familiar with PC versions of mahjongg and have gotten sucked into it for hours at a time (like me), then you may want to come back to this little guy from time to time. And hey, when it's the only (NES mahjongg) game in town, beggars can't be choosers now, can they?

With some of the traditional aspects of mahjongg, a few new tweaks and 'powerups' for the player, and a storyline that could best have been left out, Tiles of Fate offers a mixed bag to the player. If you like puzzle games, then you may be interested in this treat once you begin comprehending the rules. I recommend anyone interested in this game should first play other versions of mahjongg; only then will you be prepared to go with the flow of this variant.