Pretty fun vs. puzzle game, not as fun as Dr. Mario or Puzzle League. But fun enough to play quite a bit and get that catchy music stuck in your head. Sadly the multiplayer part of it hardly got used. Just stuck to single player. Which makes me wonder why a newer one with online multiplayer capabilities was never released.

I can see why it's called Revenge of Columns seeing as the last 3 stages are very difficult with the final one being borderline impossible. They sure got their revenge.

Oh yea one last thing where's Columns II.

In the pantheon of puzzle games like this, ive always thought of Columns as a rather dull little game when compared to Tetris, Super Puzzle Fighter, Puzzle Bobble, Poyo Poyo or any other more obscure title (hi Starsweep). Its just a game that feels overly slow, ploddy and lacking in personality.

Columns III doesnt really do anything to alleviate that mindset and worse, focuses on a multiplayer format that just doesnt work very well as again, its just too slow and it never gives those break-neck moments where one move can feel like the difference between winning and losing and as such, it all just feels far too dry and uneventful and matches take far too long.

I love the Columns III guy. I think about Columns III guy all the time. Columns III guy's bizarre pose on a pile of jewels astounds me. Columns III guy's legs are comically long in relation to Columns III guy's torso, like a bizarro inversion of Tim Conway's Dorf character. Is it because Columns III guy's shirt is too big or of a weird cut? Are Columns III guy's pants too big? Is Columns III guy just relaxed and slouched atop his jewelled throne? On the cover, on the cart, on the manual, in the advertising materials, Columns III guy shrugs with a lackadaisical attitude which betrays the apparent mastery over Columns III that Columns III guy has, the jewels encircling him like the Chaos Emeralds in the hands of Dr. Eggman. Columns III guy does not need to sneer at us to convey his power, however, as his smile, wristwatch, and trainers let us know he is above traditional signifiers of strength. This is not to suggest Columns III guy lacks his own struggles. Columns III guy collaborates with his four doppelgangers in vague cooperation in a print ad for Columns III demonstrating Columns III's five-player multiplayer. Columns III guy labours therein while still being so sure of his victory that one Columns III guy recreates the cover Columns III guy's pose. Were his quintupled presence not enough to show the magnitude of Columns III guy's skill and importance, a sixth Columns III guy appears in the corner of the advertisement on the cover for Columns III, blown up to comical proportions so even this small representation can impart the critical role Columns III guy plays. Yet as necessary as Columns III guy is to the enjoyment of Columns III, he does not appear in any form in the game itself. His physical presence is not necessary, as Columns III guy has no doubt infiltrated the mind of the player already, leaving them knowing on a subconscious level that the game's AI is not some artificial faceless construct, it is Columns III guy. And despite the omnipresence of Columns III guy, we know nothing of Columns III guy. The only lead for an identity for Columns III guy is a single Reddit comment by a liar trying to besmirch the good name of Columns III guy. Columns III guy, my beloved, who are you, who were you? Are you there Columns III guy? It's me, Detchibe.

The game's okay.