Amazon FAOTD: Wonderlines review

Amazon's Free App of the Day is a match-3 puzzle game. It includes a few twists to separate it from the many match-3 games out there, but is it enough to even justify a download?

Wonderlines: Match-3 Puzzle Game

• Created by Nevosoft
• Originally $1.99
• Match-3 color puzzle game, includes three different modes of play
• Reviewed on an ASUS Nexus 7 (2012, 1.2 GHz, 1GB RAM)

The backstory of Neversoft's match-3 puzzle game hails back to South America where a European archaeologist found ancient hieroglyphic writings and gave them to a video game developer in Europe to re-create.

There's some twists in Wonderlines that separates it from the standard match-3 affair. Players must complete rows on brown tiles. Once all of them are destroyed, players advance to the next stage. It must be done in a specific amount of time.

Instead of the puzzle continually filling up with blocks to match up, players can control when new blocks come in. If three or more colors are continuously matched, no new blocks will appear on the screen. Even better, before blocks come in, players can see where they will pop up with a small colored indicator on the tile.

The process creates a lot of forward-thinking strategy for those that want it. Another way to play is to simply fill up the puzzle with blocks and destroy them at will. There doesn't seem to be much punishment in doing it that way, unless there's people that want to complete puzzles in record times.

Of course, your vast array of powerups, including creating diamonds that destroy the same color on the screen, dynamites that will blow up a particular section of the puzzle, and more await. Some of the puzzles change up as you continue through the world, like having to destroy a brown tile twice or unlocking caged blocks.

There's six different power-ups in all and 70 levels total. Each stage area has five levels, and new power-ups and challenges change in every stage. It won't take long to get through the entire game. In one sitdown, it can be completed in a couple hours.

Two other modes also exist from the standard Puzzle mode -- Action and Zen. Action actually is quite fun, blowing up blocks to fill up the meter as much as possible. Zen seems to be a practice mode of sorts, or just a non-timed adventure that's just made to relax through. Either way, that does add to the replay value (especially Action mode).

The music is definitely calming, but repetitive. There's just one track that plays throughout the levels. The display is also in a squared-off pan-and-scan format. While the game still looks great, it would be much to small to enjoy on a phone. Stretching out the screen for full widescreen also makes the game uglier. This game must be a remake of an earlier Shockwave game or old PC game, because not updating this game to high-definition is a real shame with how great the background visuals are.

How'd it run: Perfectly on the Nexus. Didn't skip a beat. Again, a 7" screen is about as small as I'd go to play this game comfortably. The game also barely takes any space with a download of around 12 megs.

Play or pass? Definitely play for match-3 fanatics. The game has enough different twists to deserve a playthrough. It's even fun to go through all in one sitdown. There's enough variety, and certain challenges or power-ups don't last too long that it gets boring. It's unfortunate that the game didn't get the full widescreen HD treatment, and they could have added a few more music tracks. But it's still fun to play.

Amazon FAOTD Review: Tap the Frog HD

Some mini-game packages are nearly unplayable in the Android market. Free-to-play games forcing people to wait or make in-app purchases to continue or just creating an unpolished game in general. Fortunately, Tap the Frog HD doesn't have those issues, and even creates a fun game to boot.

Tap the Frog HD

• Created by Playmous Inc.
• Originally $0.99
• Mix of various mini-games, collect enough stars to advance to a new game.
• Reviewed on an ASUS Nexus 7 (2012, 1.2 GHz, 1GB RAM)

The mini-game frenzy starts with a cute video of two frogs making noises, than jumps right into a game selection screen. You'd have no idea what the hell is going on unless you read the product description beforehand. Apparently he's trying to impress the purple female frog by becoming a "Frog Prince." Cool.

After the useless video, you finally reach the title screen where you begin the game. There's already multiple levels available right off the bat, and many more games will be available when enough stars are collected.

There's a specific amount of items you need to pop, collect, or reach a certain distance for each ranking of stars. Up to five stars can be collected in each game. Mini-games vary from just tapping the frogs on the screen, changing their color so they're uniform, collecting bubbles as they fly up in the sky, selecting the correct asteroids in their numbered order, etc. Each game gives you 20 seconds to complete, and there's plenty of ways to add time in each game.

The simple design of the games makes them incredibly attractive and replayable. Every game is polished and extremely balanced. None of the mini-games are too strenuous or difficult that makes anyone throw their phone or tablet out the window, but each of them have enough challenge to keep players coming back to collect all five stars.

Well-added was the addition of an item -- clocks. Players start out with 15 clocks, and once the mini-game ends, they have the option to select the clock to add five seconds. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to add time -- the game doesn't give you partial credit. Once you reach a certain level that you need for a star, it will give you that many stars at the end. Anything gained additionally that doesn't complete a star won't be credited.

But the reason why these clocks are so essential is that it gives players the incentive that they can complete the game. Just five more seconds -- that's enough to get the next star or get all five stars right? Sometimes it works, and sometimes it can backfire. That's the beauty of it.

There's enough clocks for a seasoned mini-gamer to get through without needing to buy more. Plus, every time a player goes up a level, three more clocks are awarded to the stash.

Some drawbacks include how short the game is. It's not too hard to power through all the mini-games in less than an hour, and there's the additional of a completely wasteful two-player game that just has players tap on the screen to push the opposing frog off the platform. The creator does promise more games later.

How'd it run? It crashed once on my Nexus, but it was right after a mini-game that was completed. Nothing was lost, the game still recorded my progress from that game. Other than that, the game ran flawlessly.

Play or pass? Absolutely play. It's a pretty fun and charming game for those that want a little break from their day. It's polish and cute design and music is enough to give it a whirl, and some games are addictive enough to come back to. It's short, but for something that's free, or even just under a buck that don't get it as a FAOTD, it's pretty fantastic.

Amazon FAOTD Review: Cryptic Caverns

Amazon's been busting out the point-and-click adventures as the Free App of the Day, and that continues with Cryptic Caverns. The beautiful scenes and slightly haunting music create a tremendous atmosphere, but the lack of any narrative create a very forgettable adventure.



Cryptic Caverns

• Created by 3D Methods
• Originally $0.99
• Part of a "Cryptic" point-and-click series (Keep, Cosmos, Kingdoms)
• Reviewed on an ASUS Nexus 7 (2012, 1.2 GHz, 1GB RAM)

Right off the bat, the main character crashes into what appears to be an abandoned island. After a few screens of opening dialogue, players are left to explore on their own, figuring out what to do without any aid of a narrative.

Strange characters will appear to help players, giving them key items to continue their adventure while doing various tasks to gain them. I was already stuck at this portion of the game at the beginning. With no indicator showing that characters actually speak more than the one message bubble that appears after selecting them, players need to know to tap on the message bubble to read more of what they say.

Character dialogue is the only narrative in the game. The rest of it is simply exploring through the area, having additional aid of dividing out the entire area into scenes and providing clues to what players need to do at certain scenes.

Both the puzzles and finding use of the various items that are collected are relatively easy. But finding exactly where to use these items could become a tedious trial and error process. However, all the items found have an exact use. Nothing feels incorrect or too out of the ordinary, making an comfortable game without needing to browse on YouTube for video help.

That held true for the entirety of the game. All the puzzles made sense; some required a little thinking but nothing seemed too far-fetched and can all easily be solved. Those that prefer a tougher challenge in the puzzle department will be disappointed in this game.

Music fits with the environment well, but is a little repetitive. Unfortunately, some tunes aren't exactly made for being looped, creating a slight pause as the track restarts.

How'd it run? The game ran 100 percent stable on my old-school Nexus 7. Tapping was completely accurate and there were no problems when it came to getting out and returning to the game. The only problem I faced was the back button in the game being relatively close to the back button my Nexus. Sometimes I would accidentally exit the game. But it wasn't hard to re-enter the game and continue right where I left off. It seems to constantly save progress throughout.

Play or pass? This is strictly based on how many point-and-click adventures you've played. Those that haven't touched one in a while and/or aren't worried about narrative will find a simple time-waster of a game. But for those that have collected all of Amazon's FAOTD, there have been other point-and-click adventures available that are worth that time.