Cursed House 4 - New Match 3 on Big Fish

Today's game for Club Members, tomorrow's game for all.

You can download Cursed House 4 here.



As always, please remember to come back and tell us what you think.

Happy gaming!

Thanks, Marian.

Ana

Marian, I've always been curious about how Match 3 games could be any different one from the another? They aren't a type of game play that interests me, so I've never bought one, although the format does arise briefly in other games from time to time. So I have played a few within the context of other games. It doesn't engage me all that much. Admittedly, HO games themselves are pretty darned formulaic, and we joke about their repetitive themes and structures and graphics, but they do try to express the essence of the particular location or setting in the game play itself.

As I understand it, all that is involved in a Match 3 game is the repetitive matching of threes-of-a-kind in a certain order to maximize clearing the board and racking up a high score. The game play doesn't stray from that basic principle. Maybe the icons you match vary from being unicorns or pumpkins to stars and comets or colored gems, but what else is there to work with that would separate a "Haunted House" Match 3 from one themed around, say, a "Paradise Island?"

Hi Reenie, the play mechanic is mostly the same for all of them; what makes them different and slightly more or less challenging are the board layouts, obstacles in your path, whether or not they are timed/untimed. Other variations include different kinds of power-ups, things that you might get to do between rounds such as accumulating enough money for buildings that generate useful things in order to conquer more difficult levels, and also the themes.

Over the years there have been some clever iterations, however, that build upon that mechanic into something quite different.

A good example is Claws and Feathers. While the match-3 mechanic is there, the game involves heavy elements of strategy that can be quite challenging. In fact, you could call this series as much a strategy game as you could a match 3.

The above is just one example; there are many others.

Thanks. That helps explain the continuing appeal.