Gamezebo Rating:

A lot of justifiable complaints are leveled against modern games' obsession with tutorials. Those of us that grew up plugging a cartridge into an NES and then praying for clarity tend to get impatient with hand-holding and long-winded instructions. While brevity is certainly preferable with tutorials, we still need to learn how to maneuver around a title (especially since today's games don't come with printed manuals--remember those?). If we misunderstand a game's mechanics, we might become irritated and put that game down forever.

Fright Heights is a rare example of a game in need of a fleshed-out tutorial. It's an initially befuddling puzzle title that provides some cute and creative brain-bending once you get the hang of it - but the learning process is totally on you. Frustration, not ghosts, is what might wind up driving you away from these haunted halls. Look up online tutorials if necessary, and persevere. It's worth it.

Fright Heights takes place across several run-down towers that are populated by various ghouls and ghosties. Humans have begun snooping around the area, because our species lacks the survival instinct that helps smarter animals pay attention to big fat "KEEP OUT!!!" signs. It is your duty to set up ghosts and scare away the warm-bloods.

Fright Heights is a little bit Sudoku and a little bit Tetris. The right side of the screen is occupied by the multi-level tower, which is essentially your game board. On the left side, there's a line-up of people and ghouls. Each monster is surrounded by different numbers that indicate its scare factor. The location of the numbers technically give the monsters a shape: some have a value above and below, some have values on all side, and so on.