It is the sequel to Wetrix (1998) and has very similar gameplay; the player, on a landscape, uses Uppers to create walls for enclosures that hold flying water bubbles, contending with hazards like rainstorms, bombs, and ice cubes in the process.

Criticism was targeted at the steep learning curve, the short length of the Story mode, the fixed camera and loose controls causing imprecise piece placements, and how little advantage was taken with the console's hardware.

[6][7] The enclosures are created by dropping L-shaped, T-shaped and square pieces that raise a part of the landscape named Uppers; there are also Downers that do the opposite, decrease the height of a wall.

[8] However, there are also hazards such as bombs that create holes on the ground, ice cubes that freeze water, rainstorms that occur in the later stages, and earthquakes triggered when a wall is too high that ruin nearly all of the architecture.

[10] Additionally, Wetrix was critically acclaimed for its originality in the puzzle game genre, scoring 8/8/8/7 in Famitsu, the magazine's highest for a Western title in years.

[10][7] The critical and commercial success motivated Japanese company Imagineer, who developed Wetrix's Game Boy Color port, to commission Zed Two to create a sequel for the PlayStation 2.

[b] Its difficulty and fast pace was also of frequent note, as well as the steep learning curve that critics suggested could turn off those not very experienced in puzzle games.

[18] Much criticism was directed at how needlessly tricky it was to place pieces accurately, caused by loose control and a fixed, nonadjustable camera angle; Alex of Video Games reported he had to start over the first level several times.

[18] Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine's Joe Rybicki dismissed the rules as needlessly complicated, and panned the "slippery" control and unclear perspective for slowing down the pace, "forcing you to either drop blocks haphazardly or painstakingly map out each move".

[22] The Versus mode was lauded by several reviewers for its addictiveness and challenge,[f] while criticized by Satterfield and The Electric Playground writer Jules Grant for a lack of interaction between players.

[9][25] Zdyrko was one of the critics to argue this; although highlighting the "nice special effects and cool lighting", he found the problem prevalent in the object and character models being "plain and unimaginative".

[8] GameRevolution journalist G-Wok appreciated the graphics as "clean and colorful", and Wells enjoyed the cute character design, "beautifully rendered" land, and water effects.