Posts Tagged ‘Match’

Pirate Poppers Review

Action, Arcade, Match, Puzzle | Posted by Zeke
Sep 01 2010

pirate-poppers

How can you go wrong with a name like Pirate Poppers? Aaargh! With its pirate theme and music what else is left but a treasure map and riches? You need to piece together a map for the location of the legendary treasure of Isla Calabera.

There are 3 modes to play in this pirate game: Adventure, Puzzle, and Arcade. The Adventure mode has 77 levels of Pirate Poppers3play. In the Puzzle mode you must clear the row of balls with only a limited number of cannons, so you must figure out exactly how and where you will place these balls on the rail. In the Arcade mode you get a number of lives before losing a level.

The play is to simply shoot cannon balls at groups of colorful balls rolling on a track towards a barrel. You must aim for like color balls and shoot while the chain of cannons continues to move forward. When the balls are blasted and disappear, the cannons on either side will come together and if they are the same color and are 3 or more, they may also explode and clear the game board.

There are a lot of power-ups in this game. Some of the extras will change the color of the balls to blasting a whole slew of cannons with an explosive one. With some of the other features, the balls will move backwards giving you extra time to figure out your strategy. There is a spyglass when you are able to shoot faster and more accurately. On top of all that there are many extras you can catch with your cannon. The many jewels and treasures will give you extra points and the skull medallions will increase the number of lives.

Pirate Poppers is very similar to ZumaSweetopia and Luxor where you shoot at orbs coming down a tube-like conveyor belt.Pirate Poppers2 This is an action packed arcade Mac game with pirate cannons, treasures (gold, silver and jewels) and much more. You’ll have fun just sitting back and shooting cannonballs out into the chains of multicolored spheres. This game takes some strategy and thinking, but on the most part it is just an enjoyable game to kick back and shoot.

Features of Pirate Poppers:
-Pirate Theme
-6 Power-ups
-Treasure
-77 Levels

Rating: ★★★★☆

Abundante! Review

Breakout, Match, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 23 2010

abundante

Hike into the darkest jungle of the Mac game Abundante, and find yourself deep in the midst of fun and excitement. This is a match 4 or more gems in order to complete a level game which will bring you closer to hidden secrets of this archeological hunt.

This exotic jungle adventure begins with Dr Ray Rumble’s archeological society funding a mission to find the lost temple of Nahca Rotha. Abundante2The myth is that the Nahca Rothians possessed great knowledge and treasures. You are an archeologist who is on this journey to verify the authenticity of this information, and to recover the gems and jewels.

The play is a match 4 or more gems game, and by moving a wooden mining cart at the bottom of the screen back and forth, you collect the jewels embedded in brick. Click on a brick with a gem inside, catch it in the cart and slide to another area with the same color gems, make a 4 or more match by shooting the brick back up, and catch all the freed gems in your cart. You must quickly move your cart back and forth, clicking as you go, because the bricks are constantly descending during your play. If you do not complete the level before the bricks crush the cart, you lose one of your 3 lives.

This is the basic play of the game but there are more “surprises” to come. The first few levels are easy and slow to help you adjust to the game, but it becomes faster and more challenging soon after completing the first few levels. Some of the helps and obstacles in the game are the lightening bricks when placed strategically can break all the bricks in one column or row, making shapes with the placed bricksAbundante3 will garner you more points, and the scaffolding and moss will create some problems for you if you are not careful. Another entertaining power-up is the fireball you get into your cart and shoot up to explode any bricks nearby.

There are mini games throughout the play, and you can win prizes on top of all that. Also a very important part of the story and game is unlocking pieces of a missing amulet that are scattered all over the temple. The main game will unlock a second mode and then after the second is unlocked, the 3rd one will become available.

Abundante is a exciting gem match game that will provide hours of fun play. I initially found this game challenging, but with practice got much better at it and enjoyed it even more. With all the different levels and modes, you will not get bored and will be pleasantly surprised to find a game worth playing.

Features of Abundante:
-Fun Story Line
-Lots of Challenging Levels
-Power-ups, Bonuses, Rewards
-Surprises

Rating: ★★★½☆

Lua Lua Review

Action, Children, Match, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 19 2010


Good Mac games for young children are hard to find, but not impossible. Ladybugs and Bob the Builder are a few that are phenomenal games for kids. Lua Lua can also be added to this group with its many puzzles and fun to be discovered by young minds.

Lua Lua is a complilation of 7 different types of puzzles geared towards young kids but gets challenging enough for some older ones. La La Land is not a reference to Los Angeles, but a game where animals will sing and you must remember the sequence of animal sounds. It’s like the electronic game Simon or Bop It! Your progression is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Don’t worry if you do not remember the order, it will reset and show you again what to do. No pressure.

Thinky Thinky is a memory game where you turn over puzzle pieces to reveal the animal. You make matches of 2 identical pieces to complete. Cute characters to see and match.

Taquin or teaser is a slide puzzle game. In this game you slide tiles to make a picture of an animal. Click on the empty space to move a tile. It starts off very easy but each level becomes increasingly more difficult.

Pig Tac Dog is a tic-tac-toe where you are the winner. You are the dog playing against the pig, and it is very difficult to lose. Loads of happy times for the young ones.

Drag n Drop is where you drag and drop a picture of an animal to the outlined forms.

Soopa Koopa can be challenging with re-assembling of animal faces. In the beginning there are only 2 rows to slide until the face appears. However, this puzzle goes up to 8 slices of a face and with this many rows to align, it may take some time before the face appears.

Catch a Match is an action packed game where you click on pairs of the same animal falling from the top of the screen. It begins slowly and easy, but it will challenge some kids with many different animals floating down the screen. However, you do not get penalized and there’s no big buzzer to out you just a pleasant game to work on your cursor skills.

All these games will challenge different parts of your children’s brain in a fun and entertaining fashion. These puzzles are kid versions of adult plays. The games states it’s for kids from 3 to 7 years, but I think some 2 years old have the concentration, if not the coordination, to enjoy the game. You’ve seen 2 year olds learning the state capitals, all 50 states, names of dinosaurs, world countries, presidents, languages, etc. The list is endless. If the adult has the patience to go over things with a 2 year old, they have the ability to absorb all the information.

4 of the games are available to try out in the demo and the other 3 are locked. The larger cursor is great for little tots. Lua Lua is kid friendly with fun music and great, colorful graphics. In fact you can access free adorable dog icons. My favorite is Sharpeipei. Others are Chocolab, Pugglywuggly, Bostielu, Dogbully and Toxicodog. You can view these pictures at Lua Lua Dog Icons. Also any and all upgrades are free so you can’t go wrong with this awesome Mac game for kids.

Features of Lua Lua:
-7 Different Games in Full Version
-Great Fun for Kids
-Free Upgrades and Icons

Rating: ★★★★★

Cradle of Persia Review

Adventure, Match | Posted by Meg
Aug 18 2010

Cradle of Persia 8

Cradle of Persia a match 3 objects to destroy Mac game is different with building of Persia, one building at a time. You could say it is a little like a sim play with you making matches to build housing, getting supplies and feeding your villagers. Like Cradle of Rome that Cradle of Persia 10preceded Persia, both are entertaining and fun to play.

When you make enough match 3s of like items, you will have enough money to buy your first building. Once you start your villages, the people will begin to come and it is up to you to make food matches to feed your clan. Unlike Cradle of Rome you make matches by Cradle of Persia 9chaining like objects together instead of swapping. The object of this play is to break all the marble tiles by making matches over them. Like other match games you have chained blocks you must also make matches over in order to break the links.

Cradle of Persia is not original or different from other plays, but is a good Mac match 3 game. I can play these games for hours. They are that addictive, and the building of your empire is entertaining and fun to see expand and grow. The match game is relaxing even though Cradle of Persia 2there is a water jug measuring your time. The artwork is good and music appropriate for the scenes. I like playing this game for what is is – a match 3 play for casual players and children.

Features of Cradle of Persia:
-7 Historic Epochs
-100 Levels
8 Special Bonuses
-Masterpieces of Ancient Persia

Rating: ★★★½☆

Flip or Flop Home Edition Review

Match, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 05 2010

flip-or-flop

Home improvement is the new past time or hobby for this generation. Everywhere you look you see fixer upper reality shows and advertisements. With the economy as it is, Flip or Flop is just the Mac game for this era. It begins with Granny needing FF2assistance because she forgot (really?) to pay her taxes for many years, and her house was repossessed by the bank. Forced to move into a retirement home, it is your job to use her remaining money to flip houses and get her back in her own home.

The game play is a match 3 or more home improvement needs to fix a house so you can resell it for more money. You must get enough items and supplies before the time runs out on the right sidebar by clicking on the arrows located on the outside of the grid. You click an arrow to slide windows, doors, wallpaper and other necessities for fixing the house. If you make 4 matches, it will produce a bomb helper. With the money earned from selling the house, you need to go on to the next house you can FF4afford to buy and improve. You have 4 different neighborhoods to canvas for inexpensive homes needing repairs. The first neighborhood is titled Trailer Park for its inexpensive homes near a noisy railroad line. The next ones are the Rural Town, Suburbia and the Filthy Rich. There are 99 houses in all to renovate and 3 modes of difficulty and 10 different renovation pieces. This will keep anyone busy fixing up houses for a long, long time.

The game board is a clever working project board to help complete your assignment. It has the house photo, the percentage of FF3renovation, goals, map and time bar. I thought it was a little FF1busy looking and took a while before I got used to spotting matches easily. I also struggled a little with moving the items to match up with the arrows instead of clicking on the item or sliding the entire row or column like other match games.

Even in this time of recession, I prefer to match jewels and gems instead of paint and wallpaper, and I like to hear the clashing and breaking of the precious stones rather than shlepping through neighborhoods in search of a fixer upper (sorry Granny). I believe this game is for those who enjoy role playing and a good story line. It wasn’t for me, but I appreciate the clever work the developers put into this game. Try it for a fun time.

Features of Flip or Flop:
-4 Neighborhoods
-99 houses to renovate
-3 modes of difficulty
-10 different renovation pieces

Rating: ★★½☆☆