Wednesday 9 September 2009

REVIEW - AGE OF PUZZLE (iPhone & iPod touch)

Hey All!
OK well I have been away for a few days and sadly I haven't been around to update "Riaktions Reaction", however while I have been out and about I picked up AGE OF PUZZLE for my iPod and thought I would share some brief thoughts on this little match 3 game; Read on!

OK firstly If you don't know what I mean by a "match 3" game, its where the main game mechanic is you matching three colours, symbols, shapes and sometimes animal heads together to WIN! And that's it. The most famous example the Genre would be
Bejeweled, which I am sure you have heard of.

Age of Puzzle's twist on this is to steal.. erm sorry... borrow.. the basics from another game called Puzzle Quest and do a worse job of making the game engaging and fun. In Age of Puzzle you take the role of a male or female (you choose) fantasy warrior and fight your battles via the power of match 3





The way battles work is you match 3 of the symbols with a Star like explosion background and by doing so hurt the bad guy.
  • 3 Red swords do melee damage (WHACK!)
  • 3 Orangey wands do magic damage (ZAP!)
  • 3 Green bows do ranged damage (TWANG?)
Getting 4 of the above does more damage and gives you an extra turn, and getting 5 does even MORE damage. As exciting as this sounds.. I never once whooped or punched the air.

This mechanic is identical for defending.. get 3 swords, wands or bows with a shield as the background, and you will earn "defense points" against that attack type from your opponent. 3 swords with shields means defense against a melee attack (WHACK). You get the idea I'm sure ;o)

As you play you will level up and get to increase the power of one of the 3 attack types as well as spending points on defending against them. You'll also pick up some basic rudimentary loot to equip on your character, and that sits in your investory which can be accessed once per battle.



Regarding the loot finds, you'll never be scratching your head trying to find the right mix of attack and defense with your loot, its just too basic, if I am honest it all becomes pointless if you pile all your level up points into just one of the skills, say the Melee skill; whenever you match three red swords, you do so much damage its pretty much game over.

Its a basic game. No quests, no story, no dialogue, just a chain of battles linked together to give you the chance to match 3 symbols together. The graphics are clear and bold and animations are smooth and its ideal for passing the time on a short journey or while sitting in a waiting room.

Oh.. there is one big thing in its favour... its 59p, and for me that the exact RRP.

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