*** Poy Poy ***
   By Konami

Multiplayer Battle Game
1-4 Player(s)


The Sony multi-tap is an impressive piece of equipment, featuring 
the ability to hook up to 4 controllers to a single Playstation port 
as well as 4 memory cards.  If you're not a sports fan, there hasn't 
been any real incentive to buy one of these expensive add-ons, and 
even if you are a sports fan, playing with more than 2 people isn't 
always a good thing.  Too many captains, not enough quarterbacks.  
So I imagine multi-tap sales have been sparse.  Fortunately for us, 
Konami's newest title Poy Poy, a multiplayer action game, just may 
change that trend and persuade some people to finally purchase a 
multitap and indulge in some quality party gaming.

Poy Poy's game premise is extremely simple.  Move around an open 
arena, pick up an object, and hurl it at one of your opponents while 
trying to avoid being hit by any objects they may throw your way.  
Sounds too simple, doesn't it?  Fortunately the gameplay is a little 
deeper than that.  There's objects of different sizes, either rocks 
or bombs.  Smaller objects are easier to pick up than larger objects, 
but larger objects will cause more damage to an unweary opponent.  
There's also 4 ways to throw your selected item.  You can either 
suplex it(making it fall behind you), toss it down right in front of 
you(which will hit with more force), do a normal toss(toss distance 
will depend on how long you hold this throw button in), and lastly 
the psyche glove, which I'll explain a bit later.

Defense consists of either jumping, crouching or diving.  Jumping or 
diving will take you out of harm's way of a thrown item, while 
crouching will protect you from the blast of a bomb.

Items are scattered about randomly on each stage which are either 
circular or square in shape.  Rocks are rocks, pick them up and toss 
them.  Bombs will explode on impact, destroying other bombs on the 
ground within it's blast radius, as well as scoring a hit on any 
unsuspecting opponent who happens to be in that area.  The crates 
contain powerups which you can pick up by walking over them.  
Powerups include such items as a speed increase, luck bonus, and 
psyche refill.  It also contains sometimes nasty unexpected items 
such as bombs and a powerdown which will make your character groggy. 

Gameplay takes place on one of 6 stages.  The main difference between 
stages is an environmental or wandering hazzard.  The ice stage has 
wandering penguins which are eager to poke you if you come near and 
a slippery floor which makes it difficult to walk.  The park has a 
dinosaur egg which will hatch if hit, unleashing a t-rex that will 
try to chomp you.  The robot stage has a robot in the center that is 
reminiscent of rock-em sock-em robots, it will also send out a 
paralyzing beam that will freeze you unless you duck.  A woodland 
stage where a new item is available to throw, the log, which is 
pretty wide and will roll a further distance than rocks.  The desert 
stage has a wandering twister and wind currents will change, making 
it more difficult to walk in a given direction.  And lastly there's 
an Easter Island type of stage with wandering face monuments that 
spit out bombs and run at anybody who hits it.  It's a nice variety, 
each stage feels different from the others, and the hazards therein 
allow for slightly different strategies, but one can't wonder if more 
variety could have been allowed.  6 stages really isn't that many.

Before each match(which consists of 3 rounds on default), you can 
choose your  character and psyche glove.  There's a large cast of 
characters(you'll have to beat the first cup of the tournament to 
release them all), each varying in traits(power, stamina, psyche) 
as well as looking distinctly different facially, and having a 
different style of movement.  There's a huge assortment of psyche 
gloves to choose from of varying power(depending on how many you 
free up in tournament mode).  The stronger the glove, the more psyche 
it drains from your pool.  The psyche pool gradually builds as the 
match goes on, and how fast it grows depends on your character's 
traits.  In order to use a psyche glove, you have to pick up an item, 
and have enough psyche power left in your pool to psyche toss it.  
If you don't, you'll just do a regular toss of the object.  Depending 
on the psyche glove, you can have that object essentially home in on 
an opponent, have it move on it's own, or have it explode on impact.  
That's the three basic types of offense with the psyche glove, but the 
manner in which it'll do these attacks and what effect it will have on 
other objects in the arena is completely different and dependant upon 
the type and power of glove you've chosen.  There's so many gloves to 
choose from, it's difficult to summarize them completely and fairly in 
a review, suffice to say there's alot of variety available.

At the end of each round, the scores are tallied.  First is the "Direct 
Hit" bonus, which, as you could guess, is points scored for directly 
hitting an opponent with an object.  Next is the "Luck Bonus", which 
consists of all the clear hearts your character may have picked up 
during the match.  Lastly is the "Round Bonus", where you get points 
for your placing in the round.  Even though you may be the last person 
standing doesn't mean you're going to win the match overall.  The beef 
of the points scored is in the "Direct Hit" bonus, so running and hiding 
isn't an effective strategy.  At the end of the 3 rounds, the player 
with the most amount of points is announced the winner.

Graphically, the game is just average.  Everything's in 3d, and the 
framerate is high, but nothing within is pushing any system limits.  
Characters are gourad shaded, their heads and faces are detailed and 
unique, but their bodies are single colored and plain.  Limb parts seem 
to be composed of ellipses, meaning at times they don't appear firmly 
connected.  Each character does have their own style of movement.  
Stages and items are just as, if not more, simple in design and shape.  
Environmental and wandering hazzards are detailed just the same, and 
keeps the graphic quality consistent.  Bombs look, well, like bombs, and 
rocks look like, well, you guessed it, rocks.  Some of the various psyche 
gloves have some interesting special effects that light up the screen, 
and there is some light sourcing on the park stage.  The game's pleasing 
to look at, and succeeds in achieving a cartoon-like atmosphere.  Just 
don't expect to be awed or amazed.  You've most likely seen these effects 
before, and quite possibly with much more detail.

The sound effects are just as cartoon-like as the graphics with bouncy 
and boom like noises, and each character has their own "ooomph!" sound 
when hit. The background music for each stage blends in nicely, and fits 
the pace and atmosphere of the game.

Party games are currently few and far between on the Playstation.  Poy 
Poy is an excellent addition into this category, and it's good to see the 
multi-tap getting some non-sports use.  If you don't have, or don't 
intend to buy a multi-tap, take a careful look at this title.  The 
2 player mode is fun, but I don't believe it reason enough to purchase 
this title, as it's not anywhere near as engaging as playing with 3-4 
people.  The single player mode is ok.  It's presented as a futuristic 
game show, complete with a pre-game host, and there is incentive to play 
it, namely, freeing up more psyche gloves for multiplayer games.  The 
problem is that once all the hidden items have been made available, I 
don't see reason for playing the single mode ever again.  The multiplayer 
mode is what this game was made for, and is where it shines through as 
a quality title.  Playing against 2-3 of your friends in a frantic match 
to achieve as many points as possible, then seeing your final scores and 
rubbing it in their face, or whining about how your buddy is picking 
solely on you.  Now that's quality fun!  


Peter Bott
faethor@ptd.net


*** Overall - 7 ***


*** Graphics - 7 ***

 +  3d gourad shaded polygon characters and elements.
+/- Simple in design and appearance, cartoon-like atmosphere.
 +  Light sourcing on some stages.

 +  Character's heads are detailed quite nicely.
 -  Character bodies are generic and single colored.
 -  Character limbs look disjointed at times.
 +  Each character has own style of movement.


*** Sound - 7 ***

 +  Quirky cartoon noises and sound effects.

 +  Background music which fits the pace of this type of battle.


*** Gameplay - 7 ***

+/- Game objective is extremely simple, hit or be hit.  

 +  Each arena has a unique environment and hazards.
 -  Only 6 arenas.

 +  Each character has different traits.
 +  Large cast of characters to choose from.
 +  Huge assortment of "gloves" to choose from.

 +  Selectable number of computer opponents in multiplayer mode.
 +  Adjustable computer AI in multiplayer mode.


*** Replayability - 7 ***

 +  Easy for anybody to pick up and play.

 +  Excellent Multiplayer title for 3 to 4 players.

+/- 2 player mode's a good play, but not reason enough for purchase.

 -  Single player mode not quite as enjoyable, due to lack of
    human opponents.
 +  Incentive to play single mode to unlock characters/gloves.
 +  Boss character is a challenge to find and beat.