Review by: Cole Jones

When Dr Mario got people thinking about the infectious insides of a medicine bottle almost 20 years ago, I doubt anyone expected it to start a trend. Since then, we've seen a handful of biological puzzlers, but few have reveled in the spirit of the original like Puchi Puchi Virus - a diabolical little puzzler that lets you travel inside your patients to battle the Puchirus virus in real time. Does it play like Dr. Mario? No, not at all. But Puchi Puchi Virus is a decidedly DS take on the puzzle genre that’s worth looking into if you’re in need a new puzzle fix.

Puchi Puchi Virus is simple enough for anyone to play, but requires a certain blend of quick thinking and split-second tapping in order to rise to the top. As the aspiring Dr. Kevin, it’s your job to fight off the Puchirus virus (with the aid of a giant chicken and a nurse, natch) by tapping colored virii on a grid. Just tap three similarly colored virii to create a triangular “virus link” between them, and tap again to "pop" the triangle and take out any other triads of virii captured inside. But be careful! Just like the virii you don’t get around to quick enough, any stragglers or leftover pairs of virii inside the triangle will congeal; turning them into useless “stones” that must be popped by another well-placed triangle. As such, much of your time with Puchi Puchi Virus is spent frantically performing a balancing act between giant triangles that knock out tens of virii at a time, and setting up smaller combo chains that skillfully leave no virii congealed.

While this all might sound confusing at first, I'm happy to say that Puchi Puchi Virus is relatively straightforward once you get into it. Its single greatest challenge is the breakneck pace you’re forced to move at, which really only becomes maddening midway through the single-player campaign. On top of the their exponential growth (which can be sped up with the shoulder buttons), virii congeal within a second or two of touching them; forcing you to have at least a vague plan for your triangles before you start tapping. Thankfully, you can dig yourself out of infectious lockdown with pills earned from your fight that free up the edges of the screen and help you start anew – a total lifesaver when things take a turn for the worse.

Although the “story” of Puchi Puchi Virus is hardly worth repeating, the satirical patients give the game a nonsensical air that’s always good for a chuckle. By far, the biggest shortcoming is a lack of play modes and original challenges, as its single-player campaign wears thin about halfway through. That’s not to say the core gameplay’s exceedingly dull -- it’s just that after the 50th case file involving scoring X amount of points in 3 minutes, things tend to become a little tedious. Thankfully, the difficulty is adequate and ramps up slowly, although it does get rather hellish towards the end when you're forced to do intricate combinations of chains and points (5000 points with chains of six virii, for instance).

Ultimately, Puchi Puchi Virus is a solid puzzle game that's great for anyone tired of the myriad others on the DS. If you're worried you'll tire of its gameplay, well, you just might, but thankfully there's enough strategy and fast thinking required in Puchi Puchi Virus that you'll probably get your money's worth in random replays. It’s far from revolutionary, but Puchi Puchi Virus is unique enough to warrant a purchase for anyone looking for a little $20 fun.