Everyone loves a good game of Tetris now and then: odd shaped colored pieces and four note traditional Russian music, played with increasing speed that can race past the notes in an "expert" session of Guitar Hero – I love it.

But those pieces didn't get to Russia on their own.  No, they were sent via a slow boat to China Russia, and in Ocean Express, you have to load those boats.

The premise of the game is simple, yet familiar: fit the pieces into the boat, leaving no empty space.  Each piece loaded onto the boat earns you points.  There are special packages for each port that earn you bonus points.  If you reach your shipping goal by filling the two containers, you advance to the next level.  After completing a level, you earn tokens proportionate to how fast you complete a level and how much profit you made after you hit the goal.  Tokens can be used to purchase new ports which unlock larger bonus items.

The real strategy is in opening new ports that will keep your earning potential ahead of shipping costs, but be simple enough so that you can still easily fill the boat without leaving any empty spots.  You are allotted less time with each new level, so learn the nuisances of each layout in the earlier levels.

Don’t forget, if need be, shapes may be dropped in the ocean, but you will be penalized for discarded pieces at an ever increasing rate, so utilize this tactic only as a last resort.

Careful though; you are allowed only two retries per level, so if you have to retry, you'll get new pieces and a new layout.  I've found that I work better with some layouts (like the teddy bear face and the castle) and suck at others (the &%^$-ing sailboat).  My best game took me to level 7 opening San Francisco, San Diego, and Tampa.  Good Luck!

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