Written by: Ian

 

 

 

Mahjong games are becoming increasingly popular, and especially now on consoles, thanks to the proven success of their downloadable services and offerings. However, "Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom" is the first such title to make its way onto the PSN. Is it as exciting and exotic as the Orient from whence the game originated?

 

 

There are several stories as part of the classic Mahjong mode, but these seem somewhat clichéd oriental rip-offs, stealing from other ideas. To be honest, they pretty much got in the way of the gameplay, as they don’t explain why you would play Mahjong in order to progress the tale. Thankfully, if you want to get straight to the action, you can skip them.

 

 

 

Gameplay wise, the title has to be recommended mainly to those who already play the game. There is no tutorial, and whilst the in-game manual offers some form of advice, it is neither particularly easy to locate, nor does it do a stellar job at telling you the rules of the game.

 

However, once you get inside the game, it plays a solid variation on the game, and includes several variations, in order to keep things fresh. Generally, however, you’ll always be doing the classic Mahjong style of matching up various different tiles either by number or picture. Some modes, however, get spiced up with the addition of powerups, which do add a nice twist as they help or hinder your progress to match all the tiles against the clock.

 

They also work quite well as you have to pick them up to use them, which means you have to really strategise about when to go for them as you lose precious time in fetching them. This means that there is a really large amount of content to play through, which makes the game excellent value for money. In addition, the game supports trophies, and they are pretty well thought out, and provide extra incentive to play the game’s different modes and through all the stories.

 

 

My one gripe with the game is that the pointer is not brilliant. The game would be played far better with a mouse, as sometimes the game will stick you to a tile that you didn’t really want, and then will fly off across the screen as you tear it away. Mostly, however, this slight stickiness does work well as an aid to selecting the right tile you want quickly and efficiently, especially as the game does reward fast play.