Dr. Mario Express

   I'm a huge fan of Dr. Mario games, I'll throw that out there right now. Take one quick look at my handle, if you want some evidence. I've played just about every version of the game that's come out, and I have to say, Dr. Mario Express does not stack up as one of the best of them, but it's so damn convenient.

   For those who've never had an appointment with the Doctor, let me help you out. Dr. Mario is a drop down puzzle game similar to Tetris, only instead of fitting blocks together, your goal is to eliminate every virus in the bottle with megavitamin pills. The pills come in red, blue, or yellow, and have two segments that can be colored in any combination. When you line up 4 of the same color, the blocks (be they pills or virus) all disappear. It's an incredibly simple premise, with your typical puzzle-game addictiveness built in.

   So here's my problem: the features, or lack thereof. Dr. Mario Online Rx: came out on Wii last year and was fully featured. It had a bunch of different modes, including online competition. There was also a seperate mode called Virus Buster that used the Wii pointer. The game was 10 bucks, so if we assume that Virus Buster and even the online were worth 5 of that, the other half is still much better than this package. The biggest downer here? No multi-player. This game would have been perfect for download play, and there's none to be had. (I'm starting to worry if the DSiWare games can't have download play?) It's strictly the classic game or versus a cpu. If this were to have come out on Virtual Console for the same $5, you would have at least had player on player action.

   Furthermore, this game feels like a port of Online Rx. It uses the same music and sound assets, and identical design. Not to say any of those things are bad, in fact they're pretty nice.

   In the end, I can't argue that it's nice having Dr. Mario built into my DSi. The problem is it's sorely lacking in a multiplayer mode. For 5 bucks you could pick up Aquia, a totally unique puzzler that offers a bit more in content (though still no multiplayer.) If this game were $2 like Bird and Beans, I would say go for it, because you're going to get about the same amount of play out of them. A couple of quick rounds while waiting for food at a restaurant, or whatever. At $5, I'd advise a little more caution, but it's not entirely unworthy of your download.

-Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr