Class of '09: Puzzle Showdown

This game is genly js a huniepop reskin and the puzzles are so long because they're waiting until the refund window ends so they can sam u, Take ur 20$ and go buy sum doordash gng

i think i like class of 09--its first two games especially--more than any person has liked anything ever, which is why i want to fully express why I think this game is bad SBN3 was right that the gameplay is more engaging than something like candy crush, but I don't know why he anxiously and preemptively said that as a defense of this game, because that's not a high bar to clear at all. and having played through the main campaign, the gameplay clears that bar just barely. chaining blocks has some depth, but it's not complex or satisfying enough as a main mechanic to justify this format over a similarly-priced VN. of course, many people who came from the VNs will struggle with this mechanic because they might not play many video games, but their frustration shouldn't be tendentiously framed as a sign that the gameplay has depth that dumb babies couldn't appreciate. (i am 1000000% certain SBN3 will espouse something exactly like that in response to the mixed reception of this game). people who are patient and decent at video games will find the gameplay...just fine, even after successfully finishing the campaign. it meets the bare minimum. it's not candy crush. hooray. the story feels similar in how its thinned out to meet the bare-minimum. "you want X character to be the protagonist?", SBN3 asks in the most fandom-brained ad ever, "we've made routes for nicole, jecka, ari, AND emily!" in an attempt to satisfy ALL of fandom's conflicting demands, he has almost-necessarily disappointed everyone. you cannot take the time and attention needed to explore (primarily) one character in a compelling way (something done well in the three VNs), and split that across four characters and a puzzle game. this is not possible, unless each of those characters has a barely-satisfactory story with sometimes-repeated dialogue. this is the case for the main campaign. i would think that the better move, as the creator, is to not thin out the story by anxiously pandering to fandom. some people will be disappointed if their favorite isn't given enough spotlight, but this is the kind of criticism that should be shouldered for the sake of making a good game that's more focused and pointed. but this kind of backlash is something that SBN3 seems so painfully afraid of since the negative reception of flip side. the last major gripe i have is how shallow and pointless the puzzle master feels. his brand of vapid """lore""" that fandom confuses for good writing is reminiscent of the video message in the re-up. crucially, though, SBN3's written-message at the end of flip side gave me the impression that he knew it was meaningless bait for dumb theorists (what could the pizza watch MEAN?) from the start. this message was funny, tongue-in-cheek, and displayed a keen awareness from SBN3 about how fandom approaches media. i thought the flipside's ending video message was similarly funny--one last pointless """lore""" drop for the dumb-dumbs still theorizing. after playing puzzle showdown, I think I misjudged how in-on the joke SBN3 was. this kind of meta-slop that was effectively parodied before is delivered with a straight face in the form of the puzzle master. obviously, I'm not trying to suggest that the puzzle master's character is as unserious as the re-up's video message or as bait-y/fake-deep as flip side's. there was obviously effort put into making this character compelling, but the "depth" of his meta-commentary was always destined to be a downgrade from the substance of the previous games, and is symptomatic of the same fandom-brained myopia that I thought SBN3 knew was stupid. this is because, obviously, the metaphysics or """lore""" (in the fandom sense) of class of '09 will never be as interesting as its *characters* that we've spent hours with. in the first two games (and kind of flipside) we get to know many of these characters intimately across various routes, and many are expanded beyond their immediate personality traits (manipulative sociopath, dumb blonde, etc.). there are several moments written in the first two games, the re-up especially, that i could use an example. moments that subtly made its characters more dynamic, especially across multiple routes, without compromising on the game's overall comedy. moments that have not been truly effective since the re-up or attempted since flipside. (e.g. "you don't get to be a black-and-white headshot for all eternity. you're just really awkward to hang out with"; "you should've said nothing"; "is this gonna be a thing where you break down and cry for me, or are you doing this to make you feel better?"; "do you...wanna hang out later?"; "yeah i feel like i've changed, but, what if i'm getting worse?", "they're not false, they're accusations on layaway"; i could go on). these kinds of moments are not possible in puzzle showdown because the time and attention needed to develop one or two of c09's characters is split across four different ones and a...puzzle game. these moments are not possible because the puzzle master's dumb third-wall breaking is seen as a replacement for them--as a replacement for the source of this game's depth and substance. it is not. still, it's not all bad. i think the humor has significantly improved from the flip side (except for the weird blasian--i don't remember his name. i don't care). the humor is obviously not as good as the re-up's, but i'm biased and don't think any game's is. i think emily, ari, and kelly are particularly funny. i can appreciate how the main campaign's repeated dialogue interweaves the character's paths and re-contextualizes things you've heard before. the voice actors are still wonderful. i like some of the songs. i like the special voicelines for chaining blocks. i like how nicole comments on how lame this is every time i clear some blocks (felt). i like how she doesn't push jecka to suicide for not helping her be a foot-♥♥♥♥♥. etc. i am not sure what the future of this franchise is. i still look forward to shorts and whatnot but I have lost the hope i once had that any new game entry will approach how good the first two were. regardless of whatever horrible thing that will likely happen to it next this franchise will always be special to me. 4/10

This game is so ass that i the dialogues broke and the audio went halfway in 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Also, its not just the audio and dialogue breaking, its the whole f#ck!ng UI !!! Its fun enough not to refund for me , but its still dog$h!t. Buy at your own risk. Just remember that the spiritually obese millennial chud who made this game would like you to play it ❤❤❤❤❤ Said with pure teenage rage & dissapointment by yours truly; Lost, But not Forgotten. ………….……………………. „-/*"\„,„, …….…………………….¸„-^"¯ :\_ / o '"*'"¯/' WOOF WOOF ……………………¸„„-^"¯ : : : : : : : : ¸„,-~" **¯¯¯'^^~-„„„----~^*'"¯ : : : : : : : : : :¸-" .:.:.:.:.„-^" : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :- IM THE DOG DIH :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: : : : : : : : : : ¸„-^¯ .::.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. : : : : : : : ¸„„-^¯ I VISIT EVERY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ :.' : : '\ : : : : : : : ;¸„„-~"¯ GAME'S REVIEW PAGE :.:.:: :"-„""***/*'ì¸'¯ :.': : : : :"-„ : : :"\ .:.:.: : : : :" : : : : \, :.: : : : : : : : : : : : 'Ì : : : : : : :, : : : : : :/ "-„_::::_„-*__„„~

F*ck this game. It is a waste of money. I've lost respect for the creator and the whole idea of making this game so F*cking difficult is the worst thing to do to a player. I always love playing Class of 09 and The Re Up, but I am going to refund this game. Because £17.75 is a rip off for something that has no story and having lack of respect on the players that gets so stressed at insanely hard games. Weekend at Kelly's is the f*cking worst and I'm stuck on lever 5 where you have to think fast in like 2 seconds. So yeah. it is not worth it.

Okay, this game is just straight up BROKEN and it stops being fun past a certain difficulty. Lemme explain: This game has 5 difficulty levels and whether you play the main campaign or the Weekend at Kelly's mode you're gonna have to walk through all 5 of them, and above the hard difficulty (level 3) the game gets SO ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FAST you simply don't have time to think about what moves to make. In the Kelly mode towards the end you literally get a game over 2 seconds into a level if you don't INSTANTLY score a mad combo after the game says start and in the campaign mode you'll keep getting bombarded with said mad combos while the opponents shrug off everything you (try) to throw at them. Simply put it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RIDICULOUS! I did beat the campaign and got 2 of Kelly's endings but it was honestly a STRUGGLE instead of actual fun.

I thought the people were review bombing and that the game would be fine, cause class of 09 is goated. I was wrong. This is a terrible...product. If you're a true fan of class of 09, don't acknowledge that this exists so it doesn't smear the franchises rep. Just go play class of 09 instead. There's like 6 minutes of actual cutscenes, and maybe 5 brief sentences between characters, which isn't enough to be interesting or funny...I tried to find at least one redeeming factor in this game, and I am at a loss.

This game is NOT balanced because the enemies AI is super off. You either eliminate the enemy in the first 20 seconds, and vice versa, or play for 3+ minutes straight with them and lose. First stage of Emily's campaign took me 3:50 to beat and the next stage took 0:30 (I beat both in ONE try). Additionally, their AI allows the enemies to just instantly beat you no matter what difficulty you're on (miss lynns stage on Emily's campaign is LITERALLY impossible i lost 31 times in a row) For $20 this game is REALLY random with its balancing and fairness. The musics nice tho

I have to add my voice to this. TL;DR at the bottom! For starters, people think it's a mobile game, which in theory, I can see why they might think that. problem being, it is based off of an old game from 2000 (Pokemon Puzzle League) that mostly nobody knows, which nowadays could probably run on mobile easily. So if you love Pokemon Puzzle League, this is the exact mechanics you get from there, same visuals, all while inputs feel less clunky and running smoother. Now more of the problems. We have little in terms of content, which you could say is made up for by it having a competitive, re-playable aspect to it, in which you can learn and master the game and spend hours on it. But then, why in the nine hells are there no public matchmaking features? Who really thought this would be a good idea for something being advertised as being competitive?! Don't even get me started on the characters you can play as in multiplayer & marathon. Like, most characters you would expect to be here are here, but then you don't have Kelly or Crispin or even Jeffry, but instead you get Coach Colby? I don't get the choices here. Okay, let's just move onto a little nitpick, which is still just, whyyyyyy????? You make a Linux Native version apparently, but then why the ♥♥♥♥ is it broken on release? controller works for skipping the intro and clicking once to get to the mode selection screen, after that point, it just won't work anymore, not even rebinding works. Then when actually playing with keyboard, one tap in any direction moves you TWO ROWS, IT IS LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE!!! Just please, do Linux properly or just let the Proton compatibility layer do it's wonders. Price, oh the fricken price. How do you expect to charge the most money in the whole series, for no story content and a niche puzzle game that only very few people would actually enjoy? I for one, with a background in playing Pokemon Puzzle League, really enjoy this game, I've been wanting exactly this, I am the perfect audience for this. But I am in the below 0.1% of people, which is the main reason I can not recommend this to the majority of people, not even fans of the series. And the animations really do not make up for any of it, they are mostly really short too and not worth your time. TL;DR - Not a mobile game but makes sense why people think that - Replay-ability but no story for fans of the series, just a spin-off - No public matchmaking - Questionable playable characters choices - Linux Native version is broken, use Proton - Price is too high for too little, the animations don't make up for it Get it preferably on sale if you love Pokemon Puzzle League, otherwise just watch a video about it and save your money.

I mean its a good game but the visual novel will always be my favorite part of the 09 games but credit where credit is due for making and risking the name of class of 09 for reaching outside the novels to try something new. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit: Since my last review I have racked up more hours to give a proper review of the game while trying not to be biased. I still stand by what I said the game is good but it doesn't mean it won't have cons, Pros: If you are competitive person and love puzzles I think you would like this game a ton as there are lots of levels and a huge story to impact. Cons: The levels are easy but out of no where it can get really difficult quickly and on easy mode one of my matches lasted up to 15-20 minutes which was annoying so imagine the levels ahead of easy. I'm no expert on puzzle games but I found it funny you don't need to be good at the game as you can just spam your way to victory besides online of course. (This is my opinion) Story: 8/10 (I like the story but it felt a little repetitive) Controls/Controller: 9/10 (I mainly used a controller but it felt really good to use with no problems) Menu: 10/10 (Super easy to navigate nobody should be getting lost) Music: 7/10 (It was okay nothing mind blowing but good none the less) Multiplayer: 6/10 (It's kinda just there but a cool feature) Price: 7/10 ($20 is a bit steep but to be fair it's longer than all three of the games but the novels give's the feeling that there is more to do in there than here) Finally do I think you should buy this game: Mainly yes but with a hint of hesitation The game has been fun and so I say yes to buying it but the reason I also say no is the fact someone will post the entire game on you tube to watch for free rather than you the consumer to spend $20 on a game that you wouldn't be missing much out on.

best part of this game is the refund