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You might feel a little deja vu when you see the multi-colored marbles of Magnetica spiraling toward center screen. This new puzzler for the Nintendo DS bears more that a passing resemblance to PopCap Games' PC and Xbox Live Arcade title Zuma. It turns out that Magnetica is a reworking of Mitchell Corporation's own arcade title Puzz Loop, a game that predates Zuma.  But who are we kidding? This is the world of puzzle games, where one great idea is recycled, ripped off and reworked ad infinitum. Fun can be found in the millionth iteration of a great idea. While lawyers duke the details out, lets look into how much fun a game like Magnetica is capable of rolling our way.

Color My World

Magnetica falls squarely into the color matching category of games. Picture Bubble Bobble crammed into a pipe and you're in the right ballpark. Using the stylus you flick marbles toward an incoming chain. Match three of the same tone and they'll disappear. Fail to stop the incoming flow and they'll eventually hit your reactor and that's all she wrote. You'd think this formula would get old fast, but Magnetica offers up just enough variety on it's flick-and-match theme to keep things interesting.

Marble ala Mode

Challenge is a survival-style ordeal that ups the ante until you clear 100 levels of marbles. Quest changes things up by reworking the game board in each of the 50 missions. Some screens feature two incoming chains others give chances to earn time bonuses through a slot game on the upper screen. There's also a healthy selection of puzzles, that give you a limited number of marbles with which to clear a single board. Between these brain benders and the increasingly difficult and intricate quest missions, there's a fair amount to do. Once you've cleared away all the content – a feat that shouldn't be too difficult for a dedicated gamer – there's still versus play (via download or two-cart wireless) to help you wring some value out of this cart. Five attack items, each disrupting your opponent's play in different ways, keep head to head battles from becoming too tedious.

Flicked in the Balls

Magnetica makes good use touchscreen control. The flick mechanic, while similar to the controls in Meteos, makes the game stand out from the rotate-and-fire feel of Zuma. Where Magnetica falls behind is in the art department. The game isn't butt-ugly, but it's not all that pretty either. The brushed steel look seems phoned in. And there's not a bit of character to be found. Magnetica is the very definition of no-frills. Well, that is unless you compare it to Mitchell's last DS game, Polarium – a game so boiled down in the graphics department that they only forked over for two colors; black and white.

Simple to Learn, Difficult to Justify

Magnetica is being released under Nintendo's new Touch Generations label. This line is meant to appeal to non-traditional gamers like your mom, dad, grandparents and Jack Thompson. It delivers simple, addictive pick-up and play fun comparable to hundreds of free and cheap online Flash games. And that's its major failing. A year or so ago, when the Nintendo DS selection was a little sparse, Magnetica would have been a great lightweight placeholder, like Zoo Keeper. Right now, with so much to recommend on the Nintendo DS, Magnetica feels less than essential.

Article By: Gus Mastrapa
Video Produced By: Jonathan Solin