Puzzle Craft, Building And Match-Three Puzzler Game Has Never Worked Better [iOS Review]

I decided to spend all weekend playing Puzzle Craft from Chillingo. We all know there are tons of building games in the app store, however this one has a twist to it. The game is a mix of building and Bejeweled, yes very different. Find out more about this unique game, and decide for yourself if this is something you can see yourself playing.

Graphics:

The graphics in the game look nice, but they don’t seem to change too much. You do get to build different places in order to make your town grow.

Controls/Gameplay:

The controls in the game are pretty obvious. You tap on buildings to collect stuff, and for the matching part, all you do is slide your finger to make a match. There is also a menu part where you can buy stuff and hire people.

The gameplay is what makes this game interesting and different from other building games. First of all, the goal in the game is to make your town grow. You first start with pretty much nothing built. In order to build places and hire employees, you will need money and resources. You get money from collecting taxes, and resources from farming and mining. You can farm as many times as you want as long as you have money. Farming only costs $30, and it definitely pays off. The way farming works, is to connect as many identical objects as possible at once. In a few words, it is a lot like Bejeweled. As long as the stuff all connects to each other, it should just work fine. There isn’t a timer when you are matching all the stuff, which I personally liked, instead you have a certain number of turns you will be able to play.

Mining is a lot like farming where you will have to connect resources as well. Technically it does not cost money to go mining, (although you could also pay), instead it costs you food. So it is a good idea to go farming first, so that you can use some of that food for mining. The game is a lot more involved than just farming and mining. There are also tools you can use that will help you get more goods. For example fertilizers, rakes, axes, drills, shovels, and more can all be used while farming and mining. As you get farther into the game, you will also discover rats and wolves. They will try to eat your food, you can kill them by matching at least 3 of them, or by using a cat or a riffle.

I found out that you do need to be diligent and put some time into farming and mining cause you will need resources for everything. Resources are necessary to build places, craft tools, and hire employees. Once you start building a place, it really takes no time to get it all built, which is nice. Employees are very important, they help so that less farming and mining produce more resources. You can place your building anywhere in the map, it really doesn’t matter, it is mostly cosmetic. I was hesitant about this game, cause the game is 99¢, and wasn’t sure how the in app purchases would be. The game doesn’t necessarily need in app purchases, but don’t expect to be able to build everything in one day either. The game seems to progress faster at first, but the farther you get into the game, the slower the progress will be.

I heard some people having problems with their game getting erased, so far I haven’t had any problems and I am on level 15 using an iPhone 4S. So far I am enjoying the game, however I recognize I am not big into building games, so Puzzle Craft will probably be a good little game for a few days. But if you are big into building games, I definitely encourage you to give it a try cause it does have a twist to it.

Story/Premise:

The game is about some villagers starting a new settlement, and now they need your help to make their town grow. Now you have control of this town, farming, mining, collecting taxes, and hiring employees are all necessary to make this town big.

Replay Value:

The replay value is decent for just a buck. The game can keep you busy for hours before you finish it. However, I can see the game a little repetitive after a while.  

Conclusion:

Puzzle Craft is a fun building game that does a good job at incorporating the match 3 puzzler game. If you are looking for a different building game that gives you more play time, then this is a must get. There is enough content to keep you busy for a while. The game is only 99¢ and it is a universal app.

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