Tile Temple Tactics Review

Being offered a selection of numbered tiles and told that the player with the highest score wins sounds so easy, doesn't it? Surely the obvious solution is to start at 10 and work one's way down, making any kind of strategy all but pointless. While the first level of Tile Temple Tactics might continue to make one feel that way about such a simple premise, it isn't long before the strategical depth of the title really shines through.

As mentioned, the idea is simple enough. A tiled board is provided to the player with one having to pick out tiles with the highest numerical value in order to eventually win. Players take it in turns to remove tiles, gaining that score, with the second player then having to take a tile from the same row or column as the first player. This is where the tactical side of Tile Temple Tactics begins to shine through. Soon enough, combos can be gained through picking out numbered tiles that have the same symbol by their side with three of the same symbol causing plenty of extra points to be gained.

There's also the issue of negative tiles and even mystery tiles that aren't fully revealed until selected. Negative tiles can still be combined with positive tiles for combos, so at times one is better off using such a tile rather than sticking with the early point gains. Include barriers and other restrictions, and suddenly Tile Temple Tactics is quite in-depth with its strategy.

It's fun too, with each level only taking a few minutes to complete but a warm sense of satisfaction always shines through. Each stage offers three objectives to work towards, with stars gained for each victory. These stars then unlock new stages, with multiplayer soon unlocked for those who want to play against real players rather than the AI.

Admittedly the AI isn't as challenging as it could be, often seeming to forget about combos, but its use of power-ups through magic potions goes some way to counteracting that issue.

Despite perhaps not being as hard as one would like, Tile Temple Tactics is still pretty fun. It's an interesting take on a very simple format and one that I found scratched that 'one more go' mentality surprisingly well.