A water-based puzzle game.

Original N64europe Review

Wetrix is in many ways a copy of the puzzle classic, Tetris, as the name itself may suggest, simply fleshed out in 3 dimensions, but is still a very addictive and new approach to puzzle games.

The game involves dropping blocks onto a 3D plain, in order to hold water, which also gets dropped. Your job is to position the blocks, water and "downers", which push land down, in such a way that you have a lake which is full of water, but does not leak, and if too much water leaks from it, you're history. Sounds pretty basic?

Wetrix, however is very addictive, in the same way that Tetris on the GB was. By adding hazards, such as falling bombs, ice, and mines the game becomes much more difficult, and of course the further you go, the faster things fall in the game. The real reasons Wetrix is so much fun is the way you can develop strategies to succeed and get a high score, and the way your brain makes split second decisions about the positions of the blocks, just like in Tetris. To suc ceed in the one player game, and get a score well into the millions, you need to build numerous deep lakes, which have ducks in them, and a large main lake so full of water that you get a rainbow. These features mean that when you evaporate the water with a fireball, you score will be multiplied. To avoid earthquakes, which come when there is too much land on your surface, a good strategy is to pile unwanted pieces of land in a corner, then smash them up when a bomb comes.

Wetrix has a lastibility other N64 puzzle games cannot boast, and in it's multiplayer game you have to use a completely different stategy. Here the best way to defeat yoiur oponent is to use your weapons, and in order to get the best weapons, you have to evaporate as much water as quickly as you can. When you have a weapon, either water, ice, an earthquake or bombs, one tap of the Z-trigger sends onto your oponent's landscape, wreaking havok, and destruction. Wetrix is a superbly addictive game, and if you like puzzlers, a must buy.

- by Chris Ziffo