match-3 posts

I really enjoyed (and still occasionally play) Russian developer Playrix's Call of Atlantis on the iPhone. It's a pretty straightforward match-3 game that nevertheless has a lot of appeal. Somehow, the pieces (including some weird-shaped boards), certain items that you need to release from the grid to match up and some special power-ups are tuned just right so that I find it more fun than most games of the type -- it's almost as great as PopCap's own Bejeweled. And now, the company has released the next game in the series, Rise of Atlantis as an HD version on the iPad.

It's worth checking out, especially if you're in the mood for an iPad-specific match-3 experience. The graphics and colors are vibrant, and like Call of Atlantis, there's a very loosely connected "story" mode to go through with 77 different levels to beat. And you can even go back and beat them for a high score if you're into that. There's no multiplayer or achievements or anything, unfortunately, but then again, a solid match-3 game is just a game where you sit on the couch and flip little icons to match them up by yourself -- and is there any better device for a game like that than the iPad? I think not.

The Mac version of the game was spotlighted by Apple, and this one should be popular as well. You can try out the lite version for free, or pick up the full iPad game for a launch sale price of US $4.99.

Tripolar makes a big point of saying that it's not a match-3 game, and though the grid looks similar to that matching genre, it's really not. But it is a puzzle game. The idea is that you have pieces coming in on top of the board, and touching anywhere on the grid will insert that piece and delete any like-colored pieces around it. Any pieces of a different color will switch to the next color in order. It sounds a little confusing, but in practice, it works pretty well.

There's a timed mode, which challenges you to score as many points as possible in a certain amount of time, and a puzzle mode, which requires you to clear 50 different boards by putting the right pieces in the right places. Unfortunately, the gameplay is a little simple. Because you're dropping one piece in at a time, there are no real opportunities for building up combos, which is where the real fun is in these types of puzzle games. And unfortunately, there's no Game Center integration or leaderboards, though there is a high-score board for your phone itself.

It is well-made and entertaining for what it is, and it's worth the US$0.99 price if this kind of game appeals to you.

The Screetch is a great game with a funny name. At its heart, it's a match three game; you want to match three of a kind for a certain round gem while you're constantly dropping them from above (Tetris style). The game's namesake is where things get slimy, though. The Screetch is constantly "infecting" gems that are dropped onto the board, and you can only clear it out by matching three gems and putting the slimy, oily dude into a flask.

It sounds complicated, but of course, it starts out simple and builds up from there. As the game progresses, the Screetch moves faster, requiring you to drop gems in the right places quickly. There are also lightning gems that will clear out whole lines of the board and quite a few levels to ramp up the difficulty as you play along. The Screetch element adds a fun, new twist to the standard match three gameplay, and the graphics are pretty well polished to boot.

The game is available on the App Store right now for US $2.99, and the addition of online league play and trophies extends the playability a little bit. If you're a fan of match three games or just want a fun thrill to pick up and play for a few minutes at a time, check it out.

Shifters is a fun little match-3 game with a "twist" -- instead of switching colored blocks to match three of a kind, you rotate them in sets of four. That changes up the strategy a bit, as the patterns look a little different from the standard Bejeweled-type game (the shifting mechanic is obviously more similar to Bejeweled Twist) but the gameplay is still simple and fun.

Shifters is presented in levels, too, with each level providing a separate goal to meet, from matching a certain number of shifters to meeting a score within a certain time.

Is it simple? Yes -- if you want anything more than some empty tapping and silly faces, you won't find it in Shifters. But the mechanic is entertaining enough to while away a few minutes of waiting in line or for the bus, and the 99 cent price is worth it as long as your expectations are low.

I am really looking forward to Puzzle Quest 2, since I was such a fan of the first game on XBLA. But until that comes out, Call of Atlantis is a polished gem-matcher that combines match-3 gameplay with a little bit of story and adventure. I believe it started out as a PC game, but you wouldn't be able to tell -- the graphics look like they were designed for the iPhone, and the gameplay fits perfectly on a mobile device.

If you've played any match-3 games, you already know the score here -- switch icons on a board to match up three of the same kind, and those will disappear, bringing more into play. But Call of Atlantis mixes things up a bit by providing items to grab -- the idea on each stage is to get certain parts of a larger item (or special powerup items) to the bottom of the screen, and off the board. Complete all the pieces of the main item and the level is over. Matching four or five of a kind will power up a meter that will help clear the board out, and collecting powerup items like Bombs will clear out part of a board for you as well.

It's simple gameplay, but a strategy quickly unfolds -- do you clear that enticing five of a kind, or go for the quick three right below the item you need to collect? And while there is an overarching story of Gods and Atlantis, complete with art and voiceover, it's just icing on the cake of sweet, sweet gameplay. Call of Atlantis is a steal at 99 cents -- it's a budget title that feels and plays like a much more expensive game.

Match-3 games are pretty easy to come by, so presentation is the really the qualifier -- does it do something a little more interesting than the average block-matcher? On that level, Uprising succeeds. While the core gameplay is pretty common (you pull blocks around a board, trying to match them out in sets of three or more before they reach the top of the screen -- it's very similar to Xbox Live's great Poker Smash, if you've ever played that game), the treat is in the presentation. The blocks pause for a second as you match them, adding a little bit of extra strategy to your timing, and the simple graphics and sounds add up to make a stylish and intriguing match-3 experience.

There is a bit of a hitch in the controls -- the touchscreen makes it a little confusing to see where the blocks are going, or which blocks you're moving sometimes, but the advantage is that multitouch works, so if you're careful about it, you can move more than one block at a time. That's something I've never seen in any match-3 game before, so Uprising is definitely worth the download. It's currently on sale for free as of this writing, too, so go check it out on the App Store.

Chop Sushi is a brand new game from our friends at THQ in the App Store that combines a love of the Japanese raw fish dish with an interesting twist on the kind of gem-matching battle gameplay that Puzzle Quest made famous (and addictive) a few years ago. It's still a matching game, except you're matching wasabi and rolls instead of gems and skulls, and instead of choosing one gem to switch another, you choose a piece and then swipe it to the end of a row or column, making a match anywhere on the board (as the rest of the pieces fill in for the one you moved). It's hard to explain, but easy to pick up, and tough to master -- the different movements make this one worth a look even if you've played Puzzle Quest or any of its spiritual successors 'till exhaustion.