Bombastic

It may look like Yahtzee from the explosive depths of Hades, but Bombastic--The PS2 sequel to Devil Dice, EGM's 1998 Puzzle Game of the Year--is actually an addictive, unconventional puzzler...even if it involves some math. Here's the equation: Guiding hellishly cute wee devils, players shimmy across a board and try to connect dice with the same face value. Match enough and they go boom, igniting any nearby die that shows the same number or one digit less. If all that sounds complex...it is. But mastering the basics doesn't take long--thanks to tutorials and a fun Quest mode that builds your dice-detonating skills. Before long, you'll be stringing out megacombos and surviving marathon sessions, which are best played cooperatively with another player. (If only the competitive multiplayer Wars mode--which supports up to five players via a Multitap--were as fun.) When all the big bangs leave you shell-shocked, you can even switch to the original, nonexplosive-dice mode for a less-hectic game. That and special scenario-unlocking online codes blast Bombastic?s replay value higher.

The dice...the fiendish dice! What initially seemed overly mathematical and number-crunch-ingly complex has now taken over my psyche. When I close my eyes I see pulsating dice in fabulous combinations: bread-and-butter twos, upmarket fours or fives, and the luscious, delectable sixes. Bombastic's irresistible single-player mode had me hearing the call of the dice long after I needed to put...the game., .away (in hopes of getting any real work done). But even so, I found myself wanting prettier graphics, and the five-player mode was way too complex for me.

3F Most people won't have the patience or drive to learn how to play Bombastic. It's intimidating and not a casual gamer's game. But look deep enough, and you'll find one addicting puzzler that'll exercise the left and right halves of your noggin. Hardcore types will enjoy getting into that "zone" when everything comes together and double-digit combos flood the screen. Devil Dice fans will dig the new explosive chain reactions that allow near limitless combos (and if that's too cheap for you, try the unlockable original game).