Last Temple Review

Last Temple is yet another Match Three title but it's one that I found myself playing for way longer than I originally thought I would, so it must have something going for it.

The concept has been done many times before. You have to match up gems of the same colour in order to clear them and eventually progress to the next level. There are some differences to Last Temple at least. Rather than matching simply 3 gems you can match up many more, providing they are all adjacent to each other. This is done by drawing across the gems rather than tapping each one individually which, once you get the hang of it, is much faster than tapping. Speed is particularly useful considering combo scores are dependent on you moving fast. A series of upgradeable spells are gradually available to help you out as well as bonus tiles. These tiles cause typical reactions such as dynamite which clears a surrounding area and the lock block being difficult to remove by itself. Slime also rears its ugly face and can spread causing havoc if you don't clear it fast.

It's all very familiar territory really but it's the speed that keeps you hooked. Levels take hardly any time at all to complete, assuming you're in it for the best scores by racking up plenty of combos. Fortunately the campaign offers 72 levels to play through and there's the added incentive of Gold medalling each and every level rather than simply scraping through. Each of these levels ends with a brief few seconds in which you have to collect gems falling down the screen as fast as possible. These enable you to unlock the 72 Challenge levels that are also included with the game. They provide similar experiences but it's nice to have the game lengthened by such a large margin.

Last Temple might not be the most original game but it is fun. The control system is quick and responsive and the gameplay is easy to hop into. It's that perfectly pitched low price that means it's an easy decision to make. You like Match Three titles; this is the game for you.