Name: Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom
Genre: Board Game
Platform: PlayStation Network

Believed to have been created by Confucius five hundred years before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was born, the tile-based matching game of mahjong has seen its share of changes. Solitary mahjong is just one of the many variants played today. Many of you have probably played it, or have seen it played, at least once in some form or another. Creat Studios has decided to bring the addictive tile-matching game to the PlayStation Network, and the results are a bit of a mixed bag.

Standard solitary mahjong isn’t terribly difficult. Tiles are arranged in a stacked pattern, and to get to the bottom, you have to… wait for it… match the tiles on top to remove them from the stack. It’s very simple. One of the only issues with solitary mahjong is the same pitfall that occurs when playing solitaire: occasionally you’ll hit a dead end. It’s a very random game, and requires just a bit of luck to finish a layout. Creat Studios Mahjong Tales not only offers a traditional mode (Classic Infinity), but also includes two modes intended to liven up the mahjong experience in Ancient Tales mode and Motion mode.

Classic Infinity mode allows you to chose from 100 layouts, ranging from a fairly standard square shape to layouts resembling sailboats. The mode is fairly bland, and the soundtrack, which in all my experience playing the game was limited to just one song on repeat, can grow to be maddening the longer you play. Should you ever come to a point where none of the remaining tiles can be matched, you are allowed 3 shuffles, in hopes that the layout will be arranged in a way that you’ll be able to finish. Ancient Tales has you playing increasingly difficult layouts amidst the telling of a Chinese fable. The five tales are broken down into nine chapters each, and are minimally animated Chinese watercolors with narration. The whole mode basically plays like Classic but with some breaks for a short story in between layouts. Is it amazing? No. Does it at least try something different? Yes, but not to the effect they were hoping. The Motion mode is probably my favorite of the options available. The layout is surrounded by a track of moving tiles, which you can use to match the tiles already in the puzzle. The catch is, you have to do finish the layout before the track of moving tiles reaches the dragon’s mouth at the top of the screen. You have three chances to finish the 45-layout marathon, and it’s pretty intense. For solitary mahjong anyway.

Mahjong Tales could have been a pretty decent mahjong title. The single-player modes available offer a few hours of time wasting, but multiplayer was a bit of an afterthought. Aside from the fact that I couldn’t find a single match online, the split-screen effort is pretty weak, and you’d be better off just trying to top one another’s scores in single-player. The biggest problem I had when playing came from using the PS3 controller. Both the d-pad and the analog stick pale in comparison to a mouse, which is far more accurate for picking the tiny tiles you want to match. Slowly scrolling across the screen to pick tiles may not seem like a big deal, but if you accidently lock onto the wrong tile then you have to scroll all the way back, and it can get a little tedious if you keep missing the tiles you want to select.

For $10, Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom isn’t exactly a steal, but it’s certainly not a rip-off either. For PS3-owning mahjong fans, there’s enough to like, despite the poor multiplayer options. Everyone else may be better off holding onto that ten bucks until something they absolutely have to have comes along. Even though you can’t actually rent this title, it’s certainly not trash, but it’s also not a “must have” for everyone, so buyer beware.

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