Tag: Match3 »

The forces of good and evil, Heaven and Hell, are constantly at war. This time around, the conflict is being depicted through a kind of mish-mash of match 3, RPG, and Pokemon. It’s got the looks and it’s got the wacky combination of gameplay elements, but does Angel Salvation hold up under scrutiny? Yup, pretty much.

The general gameplay in Angel Salvation is very similar to most match 3 games with one notable exception: a given gem can be moved anywhere on the board - both horizontally and vertically - over any distance. Matching a given set of gems will power-up a team member of the same color and unleash an attack, which varies in strength based on how many gems complete the set. And individual characters can unleash special abilities when charged that run the gamut from healing to massive direct damage attacks. Then there’s all the collecting. Gems earned through combat and help points earned through, well, combat, can be used to earn new warriors that can then be incorporated into the group. And then enhanced with unwanted characters or evolved into stronger forms once they’ve leveled up enough.

Angel Salvation is a good looking game for sure, but it’s the combination of puzzle gameplay and monster collection that kept me playing until the wee hours of the morning. Matching up those gems and seeing them cascade into combo after combo, then watching the ensuing barrage of carnage is always a pleasure. And collecting, leveling, and evolving heroes is a major hook.

The same care and attention given to the visuals and the matching game hasn’t been given to everything, sadly. Menus are set up oddly at times; the way I can’t double-back to the main Heroes menu from any of the sub menus without hitting Back several times or jumping over to a different menu and back again is one example. The way fairly significant information - such as money required for enhancements - isn’t communicated clearly is another. But the largest issue is the need for a consistent Internet connection. Yes, for some strange reason Angel Salvation is an online-only game. Even though the online elements (namely friends) aren’t a major focus. It's still a great game overall, but being unable to play unless online is majorly restrictive.

Angel Salvation can feel unpolished in bizarre ways at times, and the Internet requirements create a pretty substantial obstacle in certain situations, but the game proper is actually pretty great. It combines role playing, collection, and match 3 elements incredibly well and it can be very difficult to put down when trying to earn enough tertiary characters to level up a favorite.

Colorix, a kicked-up Tetris/Columns game has taken the leap from Android and is now available on the iPhone.

Colorix from Portuguese developer Awesome Software has done something few games have. They've taken the jump from the Android marketplace to the iPhone App Store. The game has been a top selling game on the Android, we'll have to see how it does on the App Store.

Colorix isn't your normal match 3 game, more in the style of Columns than Tetris with a few extra twists thrown in. It's taken to the next level. Wonderfully rendered and amazingly smooth graphics.

The game does require some extra strategy if you want to make it onto the global high scores list though. You need to know the game extras, the patterns and sequences that you get extra points for. Then you have to do the hard part and actually set up the board for those patterns. Oh yeah, and you have to keep from losing too.

Well worth a try if you are a fan of a good, casual, match-3 game. There's a good tutorial included along with local and global high scores. There's also a lite version available, give it a try.

Gelex is not your average match-3 game. Not in many ways. For one, it's a bouncy, physics based Tetris like game, but the main reason is that it was developed by an 78 year old grandmother of 5, Maria Bila.

The game itself is a match-3 game that uses bouncy tetriminos that you can control for a certain amount of time as they fall. The goal is to match 3 of the same color in any formation. Obviously the more you match, the more points. After playing a few times, I've found the game rather satisfying. it's fun to be able to bounce the pieces into each other and have them force new matches. Satisfying indeed.

There do seem to be some odd game design issues, ones that I'm sure will get fixed. For one the pieces need to touch sides, touching a corner of a square to another pieces is not good enough. Another oddity is if the falling piece is above the cut off line, the game is over even if it hasn't landed yet. There are some other oddities -- I've had the game end for no apparent reason.

Now here's the best news, the game is free for launch right now, so grab it while you can. I'm sure it will improve, and even with the issues above, it is a rather fun take on a match-3 game.

Hit the jump for a few more screen shots of Gelex.