Puzzle Craft - iPad Game Review
Puzzle Craft is mostly a match-3 game. But there are some clever RPG and very minor city building elements too.
First of all, the match 3 action - it takes place either on the mines or the farm. Here is the mine (there are more tile types later in the game).
The match-3 scheme is based on choosing a type, and dragging your finger across matching tiles. You can also use diagonals, which makes a huge difference. Both farm and mine are limited by number of moves, and you can get upgrades that give you more moves. The farm has several upgrades that allow some tiles to be extracted for free. Using tool don't count as a move.
Some tiles give you bonus elements. For example, matching a certain number of coals will make a diamond appear on the tile grid.
You can also note on the top row of the previous screenshot some of the tools. There are plenty of tools - tools to grab all of an elements, transmute elements, remove dirt, etc, etc. These are very useful and can almost always be crafted from elements either from the mine or farm.
There are a few exceptions - such as treasure maps and keys, that have to be bought.
Money is unified on Puzzle Craft, unlike many free games that have a in-game currency and another that you buy. It is not as pricey as other games - US$10 gets you enough to get a lot of structures.
Later in the game (level 20 something), you can get special matches that give you money directly, and treasures are worth money sometimes too. You can also collect from some of the structures you build.
Speaking of the structures, here you can see the game map:
Almost every one of the structures gives you a bonus (some just give you free tools). For example, some give you free moves when cleaning some tiles. Some unlock new tile types, add workers, treasure maps, etc. Here is the structure purchase screen:
First of all, the match 3 action - it takes place either on the mines or the farm. Here is the mine (there are more tile types later in the game).
The match-3 scheme is based on choosing a type, and dragging your finger across matching tiles. You can also use diagonals, which makes a huge difference. Both farm and mine are limited by number of moves, and you can get upgrades that give you more moves. The farm has several upgrades that allow some tiles to be extracted for free. Using tool don't count as a move.
Some tiles give you bonus elements. For example, matching a certain number of coals will make a diamond appear on the tile grid.
You can also note on the top row of the previous screenshot some of the tools. There are plenty of tools - tools to grab all of an elements, transmute elements, remove dirt, etc, etc. These are very useful and can almost always be crafted from elements either from the mine or farm.
There are a few exceptions - such as treasure maps and keys, that have to be bought.
Money is unified on Puzzle Craft, unlike many free games that have a in-game currency and another that you buy. It is not as pricey as other games - US$10 gets you enough to get a lot of structures.
Later in the game (level 20 something), you can get special matches that give you money directly, and treasures are worth money sometimes too. You can also collect from some of the structures you build.
Speaking of the structures, here you can see the game map:
Almost every one of the structures gives you a bonus (some just give you free tools). For example, some give you free moves when cleaning some tiles. Some unlock new tile types, add workers, treasure maps, etc. Here is the structure purchase screen:
After you unlock the proper structure, treasures will start appearing:
Treasures consist of a map and chest. You have to connect each map to the chest by passing a number of a specific element. That can be quite hard later (when there are many kinds of tiles), but tools can be quite helpful. You can also buy keys (as well as treasures), but they are not cheap.
Another nifty element is workers. Using workers, you can greatly diminish how many tiles it take to get one of a certain element or bonus elements. Workers need to be housed at first, although later you can upgrade so that you can hire them from other cities. You can choose the placement of some structures, but that doesn't change their effect at all.
Overall, I really liked Puzzle Craft. It is free, and has reasonably priced bonuses. The upgrades and workers give a nice sense of progression to the game. But at heart it is only a match-3 game, so it is only recommended for fans of the genre. And unlike some other similar games, it starts up fast, as well as just continuing from where you were if your iPad has enough memory left (leaving the game, running large apps and going back will send you to the start screen).
I think my only complaint is that later you need to do a lot of scrolling around for tools. A multi-row tool picker would be a nice addition.
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