The other day when I was buying Battlefield 1942 I decided to get “Ishido: Way of the Stones” for the GB with my spare change. I thought it might be a platformer or something of the sort. It was instead a puzzle game. There was no tutorial, but it was pretty easy to figure out and kinda reminded me of Mah Jhonng Solitaire. You can select from a few different modes: Solitaire, Tournament, and a few multiplayer options including vs. computer and some link-up stuff. So I selected Solitaire after changing the options a bit.

I was presented with a grid that took up the entire screen (not that it is very large…) with a darker border around the edges. There were 6 tiles on the board, each with its own design. A rather catchy tune began to play, and I started placing down tiles that were given to me in random places. After a couple games, I figured out what to do. You have to set down the tile next to another with a matching color or design. And then the game goes on from there.

Just today I finally beat a round, nearly filling the board and using up all the stones, and was rewarded by a scene of a torii gate on a backdrop of mountain and a night sky. And then there were fireworks! What a reward!

Considering that it is a GB puzzler, I can’t really talk about the graphics much. None of it really stood out at me, but you could change the theme on the stones from “Ishido” to music notes to plain geometric shapes. It had a few nice tunes, too. Well, four.

I was a bit disappointed, never being a big puzzle fan. So, unless you like Mah Jhonng or something, I wouldn’t really reccommend it. Maybe…a six. Just didn’t offer much. However, I didn’t try multiplayer, and it is quite a few years old.

- images copyright Gamekult.com