Look, I was not expecting to even get what was advertised when I saw this on a social media ad, let alone actually enjoy it for what it was. Even so, this turned out to be a fun little distraction style game with minimal intrusive ads throughout the gameplay (my mind immediately jumps to any of those apps that fake their gameplay all over the internet.
The gameplay is pretty simple but hard to explain without seeing it. It basically starts off with a number of hex tiles with colored plates in different stacks throughout the grid. At the bottom of the screen, you have three options, also stacks of colored plates, of which you can drag any of them onto an empty tile grid.
The next part is the actual gameplay; the colored plates that you just put down will then transfer (sort) over to any stack next to them with the same color. The next color layer will then attract that color stack on top of it, and so on if there are multiple combos available. The order of the sorting is important to learn, though quite frankly a bit complicated as there is no written rules for how it interacts with multiple options. This is something you learn through trial and error.
After a certain amount of plates are in a single stack, it clears them completely from the grid and thus allows you to place yet another stack in that now empty spot.
Admittedly, I have not gone too far into the levels themselves, but it seems to me that the difficulty ramping does not come with unique mechanics added, but instead from having to reach higher and higher number of plates cleared. And to be quite honest.. It doesn’t need much more than the core loop to do what it’s meant for: a quick 5-minute distraction in between a busy life.
The other cool aspect of the game is that as you finish these levels, you collect “points” to build an image. As you get more points, the image gets filled, adding another layer of progression, as automatic as it may be.
This is by no means a time-sinking heavy duty RPG or anything of the sort (pun not intended), it’s reminiscent of the early days of the app store. A quick time killing app that you forget you have installed until your’e bored sitting in a bus or waiting room. And that it does beautifully.
Now let’s talk the dirty world of advertising in the game. Yes, this is a microtransaction filled mess, and that includes the “privilege” of No Ads at a major $9.99. In my opinion, these games should cap their No Ad bundles at $5 if they happen to be a really engaging game, but $10 is far too much. The Good News here is that there is nearly no intrusive ads (think, press X in corner, oops wrong X), and all seem to be either in a banner at the bottom of the screen or used as incentives to get a few extra perks or life to continue playing. This is as best as we can hope in today’s app climate.
At the end of the day though. This is a great Free app, though not particularly engaging past surface level. A perfectly plain offering, both the good and the bad. And that’s not a particularly bad thing.
The Tech Seekers 