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Crystal Cove ($1.99) by Andrey Spencer is a match-three puzzle game that isn't like anything you've tried before. If you enjoyed other unique match-threes like Kenshõ and You Must Build A Boat, then you'll enjoy what Crystal Cove brings to the table.

Life always gets a bit hectic for me, so I enjoy playing a wide variety of games to take my mind off of things for a bit. If you've been following my work here at AppAdvice, you should know that one of my favorite genres are puzzles, specifically, match-threes. I'm not sure why, but I'm always drawn to these types of games, as I find them relaxing and so easy to lose hours at a time to them. Plus, it keeps my mind ticking. Even though it feels like I've played almost every match-three game there is on the App Store, I still get a nice surprise every now and then. Crystal Cove is one of those titles that brings a smile to my face.

$3.99

Kenshō

FIFTYTWO, OOO

$2.99

You Must Build A Boat

EightyEight Games LTD

Crystal Cove features a super minimal 2D design that keeps the game simple yet elegant at the same time. The background features a clear illustration of what looks like a cove (hence the name), but it's not too distracting to take away from the foreground, which is where all the matching is done. The triangular game pieces pop out a bit with pseudo-3D, thanks to the three shades of one color. The color palette is basic with just three soft pastel hues, but I find it soothing and it goes well with the cove theme. There's also a color blind mode, where each color is represented by dots, so no one is left out. Animations are smooth and fluid, so I had no issues with lag or choppy frame rates on my iPhone 8 Plus. The ambient techno-like soundtrack is fairly calming, and helps you think about the moves you're making. The developer did an excellent job here with Crystal Cove's visual and audio design, as it's an overall tranquil experience.

Unlike most match-three games, Crystal Cove doesn't have levels. Instead, it gives players an endless escapade of relaxing block matching. You play until you're surrounded and have no more options except to restart and try again to beat your high score. While it doesn't sound like a lot, the game is surprisingly full of depth and strategy's involved, so you must think about each move if you want to do well.

At the start of each game, you have a colored triangle in the center of the board, which can fit a certain number of triangles. Along the top of the screen is a block that tells you the next three colors of triangles that will appear once you move. When you swipe left, right, up, or down to move, it places the next triangle in that spot. A light silhouette of adjacent triangles that you can move into get highlighted on the board, in case you don't know where to go.

As you match like-colored triangles in clusters of at least three or more (they must also be adjacent to each other), you'll fill up the colored crystals at the bottom. Once these are full, you can drag them to a triangle and change it to that color. They're useful for getting out of a jam, but you should use them often since they refill as you make matches.

If you make a mistake, you can undo your last move with the rewind button. Once you are surrounded with no where left to go, the game asks if you want to use a power-up crystal. Otherwise, you'll have to restart and try again.

Your final score in a round is determined by the number of matches you've made, obviously. However, there are other bonuses to earning points, such as clearing the board, getting consecutive matches and earning multipliers. Again, it looks like a simple game on the surface, but it requires thinking and planning if you want to nab the best score possible.

As you accrue points, they double as in-game money. You can spend these points in the shop for various skins with new designs. They are purely cosmetic, though, as they don't affect the gameplay in any way.

Crystal Cove takes the traditional match-three formula and spins it upside-down.

The Good

Crystal Cove is a fantastic gem of a match-three puzzler. The graphics are simple, clean, and look great with the pastel color scheme. Having the color blind mode is nice too, as it doesn't exclude anyone from enjoying the game overall. The music is upbeat, quirky, and rather charming, so it's delightful to listen to as you play. Controls are simple enough and work well, and having the game show you where you can move is helpful.

The Bad

There's a lot of good going for Crystal Cove, but it's not perfect. While the color blind mode is nice, I do wish that there were more themes available, in case one isn't a fan of pastels. It would liven up the game more I think, and add a bit of customization to it.

I also found that the controls get a bit unresponsive sometimes. It seems to happen when there are less options for me in terms of where I can move, but I'd swipe where I should be able to go and nothing happens. When this occurs, it takes me a few swipes before it seems to register properly.

And while I like the infinite play of the game, I think having some additional game modes would spice things up. Like a puzzle mode, where you must clear the board in a certain number of moves. I mean, variety is nice, right?

The verdict

As an avid fan of match-three games, Crystal Cove is one of my new favorites. I like minimal design that still looks elegant, and Crystal Cove has it. Plus, the music is fun, as it's on par with what I like to listen to regularly anyway. The game mechanic is interesting and brings a new spin on a tried-and-true puzzle formula. I was surprised at the amount of depth and planning that's involved here.

I just want to see optimized controls, more modes, and maybe new color themes in a future update, as it would add more variety to the game. Still, this is a solid match-three that fans of the genre should give a spin.

Crystal Cove is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $1.99. There are no in-app purchases.

7.9

OVERALL

Graphics 8

Sound/Music 8.5

Gameplay 8

Replayability 7.5

Game Controls 7.5

$1.99

Crystal Cove

Andrey Spencer

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Meteorfall: Journey ($2.99) by Eric Farraro is a deck-building roguelike that's surely hard to put down. If you enjoyed games like Card Thief, Card Crawl, and Miracle Merchant, then you'll love Meteorfall.

Ever since I got into card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering in high school, I've grown a love for the genre that I still continue to this day. While those are trading card games, they've gotten me to dabble in other deck-building style video games, which I find to be a great way to pass the time when I'm bored. When Card Crawl came out a few years ago, I instantly fell in love because of the unique deck-building mechanic, as well as the roguelike elements, as I enjoy the challenges of roguelikes. From that moment on, I knew I would get a kick out of these types of games, so when I heard of Meteorfall a few months ago, I was eager to get my hands on it.

$2.99

Card Crawl

Arnold Rauers

$2.99

Card Thief

Arnold Rauers

$1.99

Miracle Merchant

Arnold Rauers

Visually, Meteorfall has a quirky, yet charming, cartoon style to it that I love. The game is rendered completely in 2D, and the graphics are reminiscent of cartoons like "Adventure Time." Each of the playable heroes and the monsters they encounter have a unique appearance that's distinctive from each other. The colors in Meteorfall are bright and vivid as well, making it even more eye catching. The cards themselves are pretty plain looking, but have icons and symbols that are self-explanatory, for the most part. Animations are smooth and fluid, so there were no issues of lag on my iPhone 8 Plus. The soundtrack is rather subtle, as it more or less features the kind of sound you'd hear in a busy bar or tavern, but there is an acoustic guitar in the background. The sound effects are fun though, as the card noises are realistic, as well as the actions you do. In the end, we have a well thought out game that is ripe with personality.

Since Meteorfall is a roguelike, that means that each new run has you starting from scratch. There are four different heroes that you can play as, and each one has their own play style. The Warrior (Bruno) focuses on physical attacks and setting up defenses. The Warlock (Greybeard) has heavy-hitting spells and ways to defend himself through magic. The Rogue (Mischief) relies on powerful single blows and hampering the foe. And the Priestess (Rose) has offensive spells and the ability to heal herself. One thing that all of them have in common, though, is the fact that they can all perform basic attacks, which deal the same amount of damage regardless, depending on the tier.

Once you pick your character, you'll be able to choose between two random locations on the map. The areas that you get on this map are always randomized, so it's never the same thing twice. Each locale also has its own set of unique enemies to encounter as well, with a challenging boss fight at the end. There's a counter that indicates how many rounds until the boss fight.

In each run, you'll have the option to engage in battle with the random encounters with foes. If you choose to skip the battle, you can regain health. Sometimes you will get other options, like a shop where you can buy new cards for your deck, or the blacksmith who can upgrade cards that you already have in your deck. There's temples where you can give up a card for buffs (while making your deck more efficient), as well as resting spots to fully heal and charge spells. And every now and then, you get a call-to-action where a scenario's presented, and you must make a tough decision, like sell a card to a random NPC, or sell your soul to the devil for an enhancement.

As far as the battle system goes, it's pretty easy once you learn the basics. Battles are turn-based, and you get three action points per turn, meaning you can do one action per point before your turn ends. You get extra action points by leveling up or having cards that grant you more AP, but the default is three. Your deck is in the middle, and you'll see the top card of the deck. You can flick it right to use it, or left to skip it (a slow drag either way reveals a tooltip that explains what the card does).

If you skip a card, you gain stamina. Most cards have a number in the top corner, which is the amount of stamina required to play that card. When you don't have enough stamina, you can't use it, and your only option is to skip it.

Spell cards are different. Instead of using stamina, they have a number of charges, indicated by the dots in the corner. They don't cost stamina to cast, and can be activated as long as you have charges. The only way to recharge these spell cards is to use the "Meditate" card, or utilize a resting spot.

There are also beige cards that don't cost charges or stamina, and are mostly found in the Warrior's deck. These cards are mainly to set up passive abilities, such as increasing damage dealt or getting shields up when you skip a card.

With each vanquished foe, you'll gain experience points. Your health and stamina get refilled each time this happens, and you'll have opportunities for new cards to add to the deck, or increasing your health or stamina. But be careful — as you level up, your enemies do too. It's hard to beat bosses with this level scaling, but it can be done with careful planning and strategy, as well as understanding your hero's strengths.

Once your health hits zero, it's game over. Your score is determined by the number of enemies defeated, fallen bosses, remaining gold, and if you beat the final boss (must clear three areas). You get gems depending on your final score.

While Meteorfall is a roguelike, you can use those gems to unlock new cards for each character. These cards don't automatically get added to the deck (the cards you get are random each time), but if you unlock it, they become accessible when you open treasure chests or go into the shop. There are also main quests to complete, so these two elements are the only things that show progression in this roguelike.

Meteorfall: Journey is a challenging roguelike card game that is simple yet in-depth with strategy and resource management.

The Good

Meteorfall is definitely a great little roguelike card game that stands out on the App Store. The game is charming with a quirky and delightful art style that reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons, and the sound design is amazing. The tutorial in the beginning is great for showing you the ropes, and after that, it's pretty hard to stop playing. The enemies can be tough and prove rather challenging, which is nice. I'm a fan of roguelikes, so I like that element of the game, but also appreciate the sense of progression through the cards you obtain with gems.

The Bad

While Meteorfall is an excellent game, it's not perfect. I think some enemies, especially bosses, are a bit too unbalanced, so I usually felt defeated already before the battle even begins. Some balancing tweaks could definitely make the game feel a little more fair, at least in my opinion.

I also managed to beat the game once with the warlock already, and I think it felt a little short. Once you get the hang of the game, it's easy to get through the encounters and into the third area.

The verdict

I've been looking forward to Meteorfall for months, and I'm so glad that's finally arrived. The game is challenging and addictive, and holds a lot of replay value. Plus, the distinctive cartoon style visuals are delightful, and the sound design is excellent. Meteorfall is complex enough to require planning and strategy, but it's also quite accessible to anyone. This is definitely a game I'm keeping around for a while.

Meteorfall is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $2.99. There are no in-app purchases.

9.1

OVERALL

Replayability 9.5

Game Controls 9

Graphics 9

Gameplay 9.5

Sound/Music 8.5

$3.99

Meteorfall: Journey

Eric Farraro

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews