Podgamer » match-three

Linkoidz: Magical alien balls drop

Craig Grannell — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:23:25 +0000

Magical Drop is great. Magical Drop for iOS is a pile of steaming shit. As a huge Magical Drop fan, the combination of the previous two statements has resulted in HULK SMASH anger for me since iOS gaming took hold; but now Linkoidz is here to save the day, providing similar dynamics to Data East’s title, but without controls that make you want to take a baseball bat to your device. (Continued...)

Magical (Price) Drop

Craig Grannell — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:52:41 +0000

Imagine a developer really liked Magical Drop, but thought (rightly) that Magical Drop for iOS was akin to a pile of fetid dingo’s kidneys. Imagine that developer then created a similar game that worked really nicely on iOS, boasting great controls and graphics, then turned it into a universal app, and then gave it away entirely for free! Well, you’ll have to imagine that for a bit longer, because the rather spiffy Linkoidz isn’t free, but it is just 59p/€0,79/99¢ right now and very much worth the cash. Unless you hate Magical Drop, of course, in which case GO AWAY, FOOLISH PERSON LACKING IN TASTE.

Puzzle Quest vs Power Gems vs AAARGHH

J Nash — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:51:19 +0000

I’ve never liked these match-three games because they’re so rigid and random; unlike the fun, jostly fluidity of the Puyo Puyo approach where you’re strictly in control, know which pieces are coming next and can plan miles ahead while clearing yourself breathing space in an emergency, in match-three games you’re always slogging away in the present. Connecting three, or a line, or a huge chunk of screen is no reward because another pile of random blocks crashes down to exactly fill the space and your tactics reset. It’s a genre I always feel the host machine would be happier playing by itself, slightly resenting the bothersome human getting in the way quite slowly. Puzzle Quest, a match-three game lavishly disguised as an action RPG, adds the exciting twist of terrible controls. By chance it was one of the first iThing games I tried, and I’m still acclimatising to the fact these things can be shoddily written (probably because the iThing looks to me like a console, where games tend at least to function), so naturally I blamed all the crazy interface problems on the hardware. (Obviously it couldn’t be my fault because I have the pretty fingers of a strangling pianist, specially imported in a handsome valise.) (Continued...)