Sega Swirl for Sega Dreamcast

Released: February 8, 2000
Platform: Dreamcast
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Tremor Entertainment
Genre: Puzzle

Puzzle games generally come in two forms. The first the kind that has decades of staying power, like Tetris, Puyo Puyo, or Dr. Mario. And then there are the new ones that no one gives a shit about. Sega Swirl obviously falls into the latter category. It's been almost a decade since its release, and Sega has abandoned the game like it was one of their fans, but still, it's one worth remembering.

The point of the game is simple. You have a screen filled with Dreamcast Swirls. They come in orange, blue, green, and purple. You must destroy all Swirls. The colorful little Swirls blow up in many ways. They swirl themselves into oblivion, they shatter like plates, and if you're good like me, they explode in a quick fireworks show.

The more Swirls you destroy at once, the more points you get. The amount of Swirls you destroy at a time depends on how many of a color are touching each other (and diagonals don't count). For example, if you have 10 blue Swirls touching together on the top, bottoms, or side, when you blow up one of them, they'll all blow up. The ultimate goal is to score as many points as possible.

This game has several different modes that you can play. Each mode has the option of being timed or not. You can go solo and earn as many points as you can in one round, or play the level challenge and meet objectives such as, get a combo of 22 or more, get five column bonuses, a score of 5000 or more, and use five or less singles.

Dreamcast was designed as a multiplayer machine. That's what Sega Swirl has two multiplayer modes; split screen with up to four players frantically trying to destroy Swirls, or online, via email, against up to three other players, using a either a Dreamcast or a PC.

By no means is this the best puzzle game ever, but I'll say the same thing about it that I said about Nine Inch Nail's The Slip; no, it's not the greatest, but it's pretty damn great for free.