Linkies Puzzle Rush Review

If I had a dollar for every time I'd played a Match-3 game with a twist, I'd have, well, quite a few dollars. Linkies Puzzle Rush is one such title enthusiastically proclaiming its inclusion of a vital twist. That twist being a physics engine that ensures that the gems that must be matched up move about more than most. Is it enough to make the game any more than just another Match-3 title? Well, no.

Traversing through many, many levels, players must link together matching gems by drawing their finger across them. Given the gems move around, depending on what's cleared around them, things feel more tactile than usual. There's a 3D sheen to proceedings, both graphically and in terms of interacting with the gems, unlike with other Match-3 games. Ultimately though, it's the same kind of action we've all come to expect from the genre. Sometimes set scores might need to be achieved, while other times locked gems must be freed up in order to progress. It's simple, fairly mindless stuff.

With a freemium-based concept very similar to many other titles, players are given 6 lives at a time in order to complete levels within Linkies Puzzle Rush. Run out of lives and one has to wait for them to refill. Similarly there are power-ups that can be used to boost one's productivity, with a certain number available for free before the in-app purchases become much more prominent.

The problem throughout Linkies Puzzle Rush is that it's just not particularly memorable. It's a fairly by-the-book Match-3 game that works fine but never really reminds one of why the genre is so addictive. That physics twist might be a brief distraction but it's not something that's significant enough to keep one playing for any great length.