I have to be honest: before I tried this game, my expectations were pretty bad.  Of course, as a reviewer I try to be as objective as possible, but sometimes preconceived notions are hard to avoid.  Everyone knows Uno as a card game, but a puzzle game based off the same rules?  I honestly couldn’t see how it could work well, if at all.  So imagine my surprise when I popped it into my GBA and found a perfectly decent, relatively addictive little puzzler in Uno: Free Fall. 

The basic concept will be familiar to anyone who’s ever played Tetris: blocks fall from the top of the screen, and the player moves them left or right as they fall.  Lining up proper combinations, in this case three of a kind, causes the blocks to disappear and free up room.  If the blocks reach the top of the screen, it’s game over.  It’s a time-tested formula that’s worked any number of times since that seminal Russian puzzle game.   

The twist here is that they’ve incorporated the rules of Uno, adding new layers of depth.  For one thing, your three-block combos can consist of matches based on number, color or both.  Example: you could match a red eight, a blue eight, and a blue four-but only if they touch each other in that order.  Also thrown into the mix are the familiar Uno special cards, like Reverse and Draw Four.  Each has a special ability, in keeping with what they do in the card game, any one of which could make or break your game.  And like Tetris Attack (aka Puzzle League, which is the game that seems to have influenced Uno: Free Fall the most), disappearing pieces cause other pieces to fall, giving you the ability to set up intricate combinations.

The game doesn’t try to do anything flashy graphically, but the graphics here are functional and streamlined.  Readable blocks (or “cards”) fall against your choice of background graphics.  One of the more noteworthy aspects of the game is its music: you get your pick of song before each round from a selection of soothing, memorable electronic jams.  Sound effects are suitable, but nothing to write home about.   

Unfortunately, the game is somewhat short on play modes.  Besides Classic Mode, you’ve got Flippy Mode, which “flips” cards surrounding the combos you make, making them unusable until you flip them back.  There’s also Timed Mode, in which your objective is a certain score before time runs out, and Perfect Match Mode, where they give you a situation and just enough pieces falling to clear the screen entirely.  This mode is fun, but unfortunately there are only 10 levels, which can be blown through quickly.   

One thing not included that could have improved this title’s replayability immensely is any sort of multiplayer: you can try several modes against AI opponents, but not human ones.  This seems almost an unforgivable oversight for a puzzle game of this sort, which are known best for frantic multiplayer matches.  Also, the game is not that unique overall.  If you’ve ever played a falling block puzzle game (and really, who hasn’t?), nothing here will blow your socks off.  

Still, this is a fun, addictive little title that’s worth checking out.  It’s not going to change the world of gaming, but it’s not trying to.  As games get more and more complex, sometimes it’s nice to sit back and chill with a simple, unassuming puzzle game.  Take it from someone who wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but did despite himself.
 

Gameplay:  7.2
Blocks fall from the sky, line them up correctly to make them disappear.  It’s the oldest trick in the book, but you know what?  It still works.

Graphics:  6.4
Simple, clean graphics don’t impress, but they get the job done.  Animated backgrounds add a bit of flair. 

Sound:  7.0
The effects are nothing special, but the music is unexpectedly good.  I was humming a couple of them the next day, and that doesn’t happen often. 

Difficulty:  Medium
Like most puzzlers, Free Fall starts out brain-dead simple and ramps the difficulty slowly.  By the later levels, though, it gets pretty tough. 

Concept:  6.7
Combining the rules of falling block puzzle games with the rules for Uno sounds like a terrible idea, but in practice, it works surprisingly well.  Not very unique, though. 

Overall:  6.9
Uno: Free Fall doesn’t innovate, but what it does, it does pretty well.  It may be reminiscent of stuff I’ve played before, but that doesn’t make me want to put it down any faster.