Review: Actionloop

Nintendo DS and its clever features have brought us lots of unique sensations. We've used the touch screen to dig up treasure, make a delicious meal or scribble sums.

The built-in microphone has allowed us to blow dust off ancient artefacts, turn our voices into Star Fox-speak and shout "Objection!" like an Ace Attorney.

Now, along comes a Nintendo DS game that introduces a new sensation to the hit handheld: rumble!

Actionloop comes bundled with the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak; a GBA cartridge-sized gadget that bumps and shakes as you play. While you can use the Rumble Pak with any compatible game (such as Metroid Prime Hunters or Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time) it's the perfect accompaniment to Actionloop's frenzied gameplay.

The game takes place on an inwardly spiralling track along which differently coloured Gemstones roll towards a hole in the centre. Your goal is to stop the Gemstones falling down the hole by clearing them from the track as quickly as possible.

You do this by firing Gemstones from a launcher in the middle of the loop. If three or more of the same coloured Gemstones touch each other, they disappear. The Gemstones are always moving towards the centre, so any gaps you create give you some welcome breathing space. Plus, Gemstones of the same colour are magnetically attracted to each other; therefore if you create a gap between three red Gemstones, for instance, they attract each other and disappear. This technique is the key to racking up huge bonus-scoring combos.

Firing the Gemstones is what puts the 'Action' in Actionloop. Instead of simply pressing a button to rotate the Launch pad into the right position, which would take time, you simply flick in any direction with the stylus (or your finger), giving you complete and, crucially, quick control over your launched Gemstones.

The knack to Actionloop lies not only in figuring out which Gemstones to combine but also in making swift, precise flicking motions to fire the Gemstones where you need them. This combination of puzzling and action is what makes the game both exciting and brain-teasing in equal measure.

Once you've gotten to grips with the basics of Actionloop in the standard Challenge mode (where the aim is to survive for as long as possible), you can try your hand at the game's further modes: Quest, Checkmate and Multiplayer.

Quest mode has similar rules to Challenge mode but each level has a limited number of Gemstones to remove. To make things more interesting there are different loop designs, while some levels also have more than one Launch pad. Quest mode also introduces power-ups. You can win items to slow down the progress of the Gemstones, reverse them or stop them altogether.

Checkmate mode is more of a traditional puzzle game because it removes the constant action of the other two modes, presenting you with a fixed chain of Gemstones that you must clear by firing the correct coloured Gemstones in the right order. With 60 unique puzzles to complete, it'll keep you busy for some time.

Lastly there's the Multiplayer mode, in which two players can face off against each other in a game similar to Challenge mode. The difference is that any Gemstones a player clears from their track results in Blockers being sent to their opponent. Blockers are nasty items that can only be removed by destroying the Gemstones next to them.

As you play, further attack items appear. By clearing such an item from your loop, your opponent feels the effect. Items include smoke that obscures your rival's vision, black holes that suck in Gemstones fired from their Launch pad, and virus spores that turn ordinary Gemstones into Blockers.

Actionloop makes use of the DS Download Play feature, so two players can share one copy of the game. Plus, you can also send a demo of the game to a friend wirelessly, which they can play for as long as their DS remains switched on.

And, if you're a fan of Polarium Advance (also from the makers of Actionloop) you can use Actionloop to unlock some brand new puzzles, simply by slotting Polarium Advance into the GBA slot of your DS and loading up Actionloop.

On the surface, Actionloop might seem like 'just another' puzzle game but there's much more than meets the eye: fast-paced action, brain-bending puzzling, multiplayer battling and an impressive range of bonus features. Add in the inclusion of the DS Rumble Pak and a price tag of only £20 (30) and Actionloop is another worthy addition to your DS collection.

Actionloop is available from January 26.