Reviewed: November 27, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Buena Vista Games

Developer
Q Entertainment

Released: November 2, 2006
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone

8
8
8
8
8.2

Supported Features

Every Extend Extra is just one of several of these games, but unlike most, this one comes from veteran designer, Q Entertainment (Lumines, Lumines II), and depending on your preference of puzzle games, this could quickly become your favorite of the bunch.

I’m not even sure how to describe Every Extend Extra, at least within the context of comparing it to games you might already know. It is truly that original. Part puzzle, part shooter, and complete with insane levels and yes, even boss fights, this game truly takes the puzzle genre into unexplored territory that innovates at almost every level.

The game is deceptively simple, at least in theory. The entire process includes you moving your ship around the screen, avoiding enemies, and detonating (self-destruct) at just the right time to take out as many enemies as you can while creating huge chain reactions.

Controls are as simple as the rules. You move your ship with the D-pad or the A-pad and push any of the face buttons to blow up. The longer you hold the button the more charge you can build up for the resulting explosion. The only other tweak to the gameplay is your ability to detach the core from your ship using the R or L trigger while charging your blast, effectively changing the epicenter of the explosion.

The entire game is on a timer and your ultimate goal is to finish before the clock hits zero. Each time you crash your ship into an enemy you lose five seconds off the clock. You have an ample but finite amount of ships, so it is possibly to eventually run out of “continues”, but chances are the clock will run out before your ships do.

Aside from finishing the levels within the allotted time you’ll want to be racking up huge scores. To do this you need to detonate your ship close to other ships, creating chain reactions that can often travel the width and height of the entire playing field if you do it right.

Chain reactions don’t just count toward points, but they are often limits by which you can actually hit larger enemies and final stage bosses. For instance, if a boss appears on screen that requires a 20 chain hit you must first spark a chain reaction that includes at least 20 explosions before you can damage that boss. If you think it sounds easy you’re right, but actually doing it and doing it within the time limit takes practice and patience.

I took me three days of casual (90-minutes per day) gaming before I managed to defeat the first level boss. The level of difficulty only ramps up from there, so even though Every Extend Extra only offers 9 stages, it could take you months to defeat them all. At the time of this review I am now only at stage four.

Amidst all the explosive action you’ll also want to be scavenging the battlefield for pick-ups including bonus points that stack in value when collected in succession as well as pulse bombs and Quickens. Quickens are very important allowing you to increase the speed of the game, the frequency of enemies, and the power of your explosions. There are eight levels of Quickens, but once you reach level six the enemies that spawn them stop appearing, so getting those extra two levels takes a bit of strategy.

Much like Lumines, each stage in Every Extend Extra has its own unique theme including background art, music, and creative enemies, sub-bosses, and final stage boss. Each level gets better and more original than the last so progressing through the relatively short game is reward in and of itself.

Perhaps the toughest enemy in the game – even harder than the boss fights, is the relentless timer that continually clicks down toward your ultimate failure. You’ll really have to work within the subtle confines of the game’s rules to manage the clock and actually stay alive long enough to win the game. Once you learn to resist the urge to dart around the levels trying to “beat” the clock and focus on those key enemies who will actually add precious seconds to the timer when destroyed, you’ll have discovered the key element in playing and eventually winning Every Extend Extra.

For those that want to mix up the gameplay outside the main arcade mode you can try the Boss Rush mode that stacks the bosses one after the other in a brutal challenge that only seasoned experts should even attempt. You can also play your favorite levels in any order you chose in the Caravan mode, but only have you have unlocked them in the linear arcade mode.

There is also a fun multiplayer mode that allows two players to battle on the same playing field with explosions adversely affecting the other player. The game even supports Game Sharing so you can play with somebody who doesn’t even have the game.

The HUD is a bit intrusive and I would have enjoyed the option to turn it off or at least pick what information was displayed. The menus are simple and easy to navigate – nothing much to look at. It’s a pretty basic presentation for a fairly basic game.

For a game that is all about explosions, the sound effects are surprisingly weak, even with a good set of headphones, but this game is more about settling in for the musical experience than powerful effects so I’ll let it slide this time.

And finally you have the addictive multiplayer mode with game share support. It all combines for a nice package of quality and addictive gameplay that can easily justify the $30 price tag, but once this game drops to $20 everybody who enjoys puzzles and intense action should own it.

Now if they can only get this game ported over to Xbox Live Arcade so we can enjoy these mind-bending graphics and music in hi-def. Until then, rest assured that the PSP has one of the finest selection of puzzle games out there and Every Extend Extra is one of them.