Carol is a fun competitive puzzler set in Christmas theme that sports commercial-quality graphics, somewhat original gameplay, and very high production values including full Japanese voice acting.The gameplay is straightforward: put Tetris-shaped tiles on your side of the playing field, and clear them by applying 3x3, 4x4, or 5x5 ?eraser block? (by clicking on the size you want right next to the picture of next tile. Each block you erase will deduct a certain amount of hit points from your opponent?s health bar, and increase yours. Your objective, naturally, is to reduce your opponent?s hit points to zero.

Although the game sounds good in concept, the actual play is a bit repetitive because you gain hit points almost as often as you lose them if you and your opponent?s skill levels are similar. This means a game can take a very long time before a winner emerges. The game is noticeably better when you play against someone either much stronger or weaker than you are, because the game will be more exciting as you?ll see dozens of hit point drops at a time. You can even play the game against someone over the Internet by dialing in an IP number ? a nice touch.

If you like Tetris-style games but dislike the time constraints, check out this fun 2-player game. There is no time limit here, only the pressure of competition. Excellent anime graphics rounds off this fun underdog. You?ll have to know Japanese to understand the storyline in story mode, however. Two thumbs up!