If there is a puzzle game to be had with various shaped blocks falling to the bottom of a screen, rest assured that Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov's name is probably attached to it somewhere. You know, I never thought shape recognition was so hard…till I spent some time with this game. Heck, picking two straight shapes is even a problem for me now.

Puzzle games aren't known for their grandiose storylines…it's a simple fact of videogame culture. I mean, does Tetris, Hexic or any other puzzle game for that matter contain a story? Well, Dwice actually incorporates one, if only to sale the idea. In Dwice, the world has just experienced a new Ice Age, and the world is covered with ice and snow. As you traverse said globe, you'll work to eliminate block puzzles to save various villages from avalanches, and in the hope that you can clear away the ice and make those locations a warmer climate (cause really, Egypt should not have snow on top of their pyramids). Heating the world…the crux of the game.

As with any self-respecting puzzle game, ease of use and simple gameplay must be at the forefront for anyone to care about it. Tetris – turn blocks and place them to form lines. Hexic- spin hexagons to make groups of three of the same color. The goal of Dwice is to select two puzzle pieces of the same shape so that you can eliminate them from the board, and thus slow down the decent of the puzzle block avalanche so it doesn't crush the village below. Also, if you can manage to isolate one block by itself, it will simply melt away, so that is a consideration you need to keep in play as well as you left click to your heart's content with the mouse. Now, just like in those other games, though the mechanics are simple, there comes some depth in how you generate points, which is always the ultimate goal of any puzzle game. In Dwice you collect points by matching pairs of blocks, but yet there is also another method; instead of simply clicking two straight line pieces (for example) you can receive more points by clicking two straight line pieces of the same color.

So what makes matching shapes such a challenge? I mean, when I was young, I'm sure I had one of those toys that made you slip round pegs into round holes and square pegs into square holes, but the shapes in Dwice aren't so well defined. When I first started the game, I was instantly hit with the feeling of "Why is this difficult?" Why? Cause the blocks were moving fairly slowly and I was easily double clicking shapes because there just wasn't that much variety; this feeling lasted for a few levels. Then, of course, came that moment of "Ooooh! So that is what this game is about!" You see, after those first handful of levels (training levels I'd say) the game starts mixing them up and adding slight variations that throw you off track.

In a way, think of the bottom of a Tetris board and how – if played perfectly – you've got all those various shapes turned every which way to make a perfect section without a single gap present. Now imagine that falling at you and you've got to twist and turn your mind to see what shape is exactly what. See, the game gives you pieces, which upon first glance, look like one another (I can't tell you how many times I double clicked things and got frustrated when I absolutely thought I was right but wasn't). Straight lines, slight squares, and plus signs aren't a challenge, but when you start throwing in "L" looking shapes, bridge looking shapes, and various zigzag patterns it becomes quite a challenge to discern what from what (the fact that they are twisted in all these different directions add to the challenge as well).

You aren't alone, however, as powerups are sporadically spaced throughout the descending avalanche puzzles, which will do one of several things depending on what type it is. You've got powerups that slow down the avalanche's descent, bonus multipliers, extra points, quakes (breaks up the pieces into smaller sections), fire (eliminate all the pieces on the board), and then you've got the ones that go in your stockpile so that you can use them whenever a situation gets particularly hairy; these include dynamite (a smaller version of the quake), ice picks (eliminates one entire piece), and fire lines (a smaller version of the fire, whereas this one only goes partly up the board instead of all the way up it).

If you should accidentally let an avalanche reach a village, don't worry too much, as there are a total of three houses there (sort of like continues or extra lives) and as long as you have one left you are good to go; after a village house is taken out approximately one-third of the bottom section of the board is removed so it isn't like the avalanche instantly claims your other remaining houses at the exact same time.

Dwice features two main modes of play. You've got the Quest Mode, the core experience of the game, which has you jet setting across the globe in hopes of freeing these climates from the frost that has struck them. As you advance to different locations, you conquer them by playing a type of "boss level" where you'll have to not only manage one board, but two! If you thought one was hard, wait till two, but at least here you can cross click, so if you have a plus sign on one side and another one on the other side, you can click both of them to remove them from their respective boards. After that location is complete, you'll pack up, move on, and try to rescue another place. Quest Mode features 60 levels spread across nine different locations. The second method of play is the Arcade Mode, which acts as an endless avalanche stream that continues until it manages to take all your houses.

Since it is a puzzle game about blocks, the graphics don't have to be that advanced…and they aren't. Your villagers are basically just giant heads with arms and legs, your puzzle pieces are fairly flat and boring, the effects are so-so, and the backgrounds have a 3D (aka roundness) to them that really makes the 2D placed over them standout.

As for the sound…well…it's pretty grating; it sounds like it was done on a MIDI keyboard and the hook repeats so many times you'll quickly find yourself cranking your own tunes or none at all instead of listening to this single track. Besides the music, the only other sound comes from the "clinking and plinking" sound that comes from selecting and matching pairs and the sound effects certain powerups cause.

So what is the final conclusion? Like most puzzle games, it is easy to pickup and play, but after a while you'll figure out that it's truly made for those difficult spots and really making you think ahead and plan your moves. The game isn't for everyone, but I'm sure puzzle fans and Alexey Pajitnov's followers will eat this baby up. Still, if given the choice of picking Dwice or either Pajitnov's Tetris or Hexic to play, I'd probably go with one of those two alternatives instead.

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Download the demo or purchase the game.