Switch & Drop Review

A little bit more challenging than most, Switch & Drop’s looks are pretty deceptive. It appears minimalistic at best, basic at worst. Think Tetris without the different kinds of shapes and you wouldn’t be far off. Once you get past the early levels though, it turns out to be pretty tricky at times.

Each level involves matching falling rows to clear as many colored blocks as possible. The rows are straightforward enough with you able to swipe to change the order of the blocks. You need to match up three or more of the same color in order to clear them, but if you match more than that you create a special block that can be used to clear much larger areas.

Deviating from the typical matching game format, Switch & Drop’s level selection screen deserves a mention, given it’s a form of pixel picture that gradually completes as you progress. It’s so much more interesting to look at than simply listing level numbers.

The challenging part is what happens when you’ve cleared some blocks. They remaining blocks move downwards, and that’s where (if you’re clever) you can set up some impressive combos. Early on this is more for the sake of feeling cool, but soon it becomes a necessary skill as you find yourself having to meet various time limits. The difficulty ramps up quite quickly, although the simplicity also remains.

That’s also when you learn where the freemium side to Switch & Drop resides. For one thing, there’s an energy/life system that can slow you down. More importantly, you can choose to buy your way to an easier level through the in-game currency that can be earned but also purchased. It’s a little cheeky, as well as tempting, but it’s not exactly essential.

So, Switch & Drop is a fairly typical Matching game with a few tweaks that make it a bit more noticeable. It doesn’t offer the ‘just one more go’ factor though, lacking real excitement, but that doesn’t stop it from being a brief if somewhat entertaining ride.