Review: Quartet

Quartet is a delightful puzzle game that brings a fresh approach to the formula of coming up with a puzzler that’s “easy to learn yet hard to master”. Developed by Mackerel Interactive, this charming title challenges players to assemble pieces into faces, creating a unique and engaging gameplay experience.

Quartet

Mackerel Interactive • 2021

“A simple but addictive puzzle game where you assemble pieces into faces and score points. Don’t be too slow, or you will lose!”

Buy on Ferrante Crafts

The Game Boy’s legacy is inextricably linked with puzzle games. In 1989, the original Game Boy came bundled with Tetris, a game that would become synonymous with the platform. Tetris’s simple yet addictive gameplay proved to be the perfect showcase for the Game Boy’s capabilities, demonstrating that complex graphics weren’t necessary for an engaging gaming experience. The pairing was so successful that when Nintendo released the Game Boy Color in 1998, they once again turned to Tetris, this time launching with Tetris DX, an enhanced version of the original.

This decision to launch both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color with iterations of Tetris speaks volumes about the nature of these platforms, and Quartet fits beautifully into this tradition. Like Tetris before it, Quartet offers a simple premise that’s easy to grasp but challenging to master. The game’s core mechanics of assembling facial features under time pressure echo the block-dropping urgency of Tetris, while offering a fresh and visually appealing twist. By leveraging the Game Boy Color’s improved display capabilities, Quartet presents a more vibrant and detailed playing field than would have been possible on the original Game Boy, yet it maintains the pick-up-and-play spirit that made puzzle games so successful on Nintendo’s handhelds.

Quartet is about arranging four different faces, each split into four parts, correctly, without overlapping same-angle parts. Building a whole face out of a single color earns extra points.

Color Cart Critic

At its core, Quartet offers a straightforward premise: arrange facial features to create complete faces and score points. However, like many great puzzle games, this simplicity belies a deeper complexity that emerges as you play. The time pressure element adds an extra layer of challenge, keeping players on their toes and ensuring that each session remains exciting.

Moreover, Quartet’s design shows a clear understanding of what makes a great Game Boy Color game. Its colorful graphics and simple, distinctive art style ensure that all elements are easily discernible on the small screen, a crucial consideration for handheld puzzle games. The game’s short play sessions and gradually increasing difficulty curve make it ideal for on-the-go gaming, perfectly suiting the portable nature of the platform. In this way, Quartet not only continues the Game Boy’s strong puzzle game tradition but also demonstrates how developers can evolve and refine that tradition for more modern hardware.

Indeed, one of Quartet’s standout features is how well it utilizes the Game Boy Color’s capabilities. The graphics are crisp and colorful, making it easy to distinguish between different facial features even on the small screen. The sound design complements the gameplay nicely, with satisfying audio cues that enhance the overall experience without becoming repetitive. The design challenge of making four easily differentiable faces on such a small screen is accomplished excellently: the faces are original, beautiful to look at and easy to tell apart, even if you’re working off of a grayscale original Game Boy screen.

The game’s pacing is well-tuned, with player-configurable difficulty levels that keep the game challenging as become more adept at assembling faces. This progression keeps the game challenging without feeling frustrating, encouraging players to improve their skills and aim for higher scores.

In conclusion, Quartet is a welcome addition to the Game Boy Color’s library. Its innovative gameplay, polished presentation, and addictive nature make it a must-try for fans of puzzle games. Whether you’re looking for a quick gaming session on the go or a new challenge to master, Quartet delivers an entertaining experience that’s perfectly suited to its platform. The entire Quartet ROM is 32 kilobytes — there’s nothing here other than a solid, excellently executed puzzling experience on Game Boy Color. As such, there isn’t much that can be written about it, either, lest I resort to fluff. If you like puzzle games, just go and play it! Carts can be ordered from Ferrante Crafts for $20, and the ROM can be downloaded for free from Itch.io.

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