Kollon

Kollon (ころん) (titled Ultimate Block Party in the United States, Koloomn in Europe) is a 2003 Arcade puzzle game developed by MagicPot and published by CyberFront. Kollon was later ported to the PlayStation Portable as a launch title in 2004.

Kollon
Developer(s)MagicPot
Publisher(s)CyberFront (JP/KO), Conspiracy Entertainment (US),[1] 505 Games (EU)
Platform(s)PlayStation Portable, Arcade
ReleaseArcade
PSP
  • JP: December 16, 2004[2][3]
  • KO: May 2, 2005
  • NA: December 13, 2005
  • EU: March 3, 2006
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer
Arcade systemTaito G-NET

Gameplay
The player must match at least four blocks of the same color to remove them, while new rows of blocks rise from the bottom of the screen.

Kollon is a puzzle game where the player rotates a two by two section of blocks to match similarly-colored blocks, and blocks can be cleared from the board if at least four blocks of the same color are touching. When blocks are cleared, blocks above them fall down, which may be used to make combos which award more points. As the game progresses, new rows of blocks will push up the current ones, getting faster as the game increases in difficulty. Not clearing enough within a set time limit will force the blocks to the top of the screen, where the player will lose. The speed of new rows will increase as the game is played longer. The game offers several different modes including a multiplayer and arcade mode.

Development

Kollon arcade cabinets were exhibited at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show, alongside videos of a prototype of the PSP port.[4][5] The PSP version of Kollon was also exhibited at E3 2004.[6] Kollon was released in December 2004 as a launch title for the PSP in Japan.[2][3][7] Both western releases of Kollon, the US PSP release Ultimate Block Party and the European Koloomn release by 505 Games adds a Wifi LAN multiplayer mode, which is absent in the Japanese PSP version.[8][9][10] The US PSP release of Ultimate Block Party was published by Conspiracy Entertainment.[1]

Reception

Several critics compared Kollon to Lumines: Puzzle Fusion, a puzzle game with similar mechanics which was also a PSP launch title.[8] Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine stated that while a good game, Koloomn isn't "as polished" as Lumines.[8]

IGN gave the PSP version of Ultimate Block Party an overall score of eight out of ten, praising its variety of game modes, its 'complex' and difficult versus mode, and its fast and "hectic" gameplay, further expressing that the game's pacing is "amazing" and achieving combos feels fun and rewarding. IGN further praised Ultimate Block Party's art style, calling it "cute and blindingly colorful".[9] Another critic from IGN reviewed the Japanese PSP version, and while similarly praising the game's art and gameplay, criticized the lack of a multiplayer mode, as well as "lengthy" loading times.[11] IGN called Ultimate Block Party an improvement over Kollon due to the addition of multiplayer and improved load times.[9]

Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine gave the PSP version of Koloomn an overall score of eight out of ten, calling it "addictive" and "refreshingly different" than other puzzle games, further praising Koloomn as 'innovative' within the "crowded market" of puzzle games.[8]

Go>Play gave the PSP version of Koloomn an overall score of 70%.[10]

Legacy

Games in the Kollon series have been released for the arcade, PSP, and mobile phone (EZweb, Yahoo! Keitai (Yahoo!ケータイ)). A second PSP Kollon game, titled Korokoro Kollon (コロコロころん) was released in Japan on June 22, 2006.

See also

References
  1. Surette, Tim (December 15, 2005). "CyberFront Conspires to bring PSP game to US". GameSpot. ZDNet.
  2. "Hardware: Sony PSP launches in Japan". Edge (Australia Edition). No. 4. Future Publishing. January 2005. p. 13.
  3. Bramwell, Tom (December 17, 2004). "PlayStation Portable pricing, launch line-up, battery life unveiled". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network.
  4. Nix (September 26, 2004). "TGS 2004: Kollon". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 11, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Nix (September 17, 2004). "Countdown To TGS : PSP In Tokyo". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 23, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. Gantayat, Anoop (May 12, 2004). "E3 2004: PSP Japanese Games List". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 2, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. Gantayat, Anoop (October 27, 2004). "PSP Games of December". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 21, 2005.
  8. Ditum, Nathan (April 2006). "Review: Koloomn". Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine. No. 71. Future Publishing. p. 113.
  9. Nix. "Ultimate Block Party". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on January 13, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. Griffin, Simon. "Review: Koloomn". Imagine Publishing. No. 5. Go>Play. p. 70.
  11. Gantayat, Anoop (January 1, 2005). "Kollon Playtest". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 31, 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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