Candy Crush Saga
Mobile
I stated playing Candy Crush approximately a year ago today. I told myself that if I ever completed the game, I would write up a review for it. I never thought that day would actually come. While I haven't really "beaten" the game (I don't think it can be completed, as they keep periodically adding new levels to it) I have made it as far as you can possibly go. For now anyway.
I first heard about this game in the same manner that I am sure a lot of people first heard about it: through constant, annoying, unwanted, uninvited Facebook notifications. These notifications were always a pain in the neck to me. I'd think something important, or at least slightly amusing, would have happened on Facebook. But no, just another invitation to play this game. Ten minutes later: another one. An hour later, another one. It got to the point where I ended up blocking any and all Candy Crush notifications because they were really starting to piss me off.
About a year ago today, I finally emerged from the Stone Age and got a smart phone. I don't know when this game was released, but I assume it had been out for several years at this point. One of the first things to cross my mind after getting that phone was - hey I should download Candy Crush and see what all the fuss is about. I was kind of half joking to myself when I had this thought. I had no idea what the game was or what it was like. In fact, I am pretty sure I had it in my mind that I would hate it. But I needed to sate my curiosity.
Who would have thought that one year later, I would still be playing this game? Not only just playing the game, but obsessively playing it. If you have been reading this blog at all, you will notice that I like video games. I am also very good at them. I have a very fiery, competitive side of me that always wants to be the best at everything I do. I rarely am ever the best at anything, but if there is one area in life where I at least have a legitimate shot at this, it is in video games.
I really think the social aspect of the game, and striving to beat all of my friends has been what has fueled my desire to dominate this game. Plus the game is just damned fun.
As I mentioned, I didn't know what the game was like when I first started playing. Much to my surprise, it is a puzzle game that compares favorably to such classic titles at Tetris, Columns, Dr. Mario, and (my personal favorite) Dr Robotniks Mean Bean Machine. It is not completely like these games, but there is an element to Candy Crush that borrows heavily from a lot of these different titles.
The basic idea of the game is that you have a grid of different colored candy pieces. Match up three pieces of the same color, and they disappear, doing damage to whatever is in their vicinity. Most of the levels have different goals you must complete to move on. The basic level is the "jelly" level, where there are background pieces that are shaded grey, and you must make a combination over the top of them to destroy them. Other levels you simply have to get a high score. Others, you must navigate pieces of fruit which appear on the top of the screen down to the bottom of it. There are other level variations as well.
Your basic move is the three piece color combo. I wasn't aware of any of this coming in, but I quickly learned that there are other combinations as well. Get five colors in a row and you get a color bomb, which will destroy all of one specific color on the grid that you swipe it into. There is the striped candy, which is obtained by matching four colors in a row. This creates a striped candy which takes out every piece of candy in the same row as this piece. It took me a while to figure out that you can control the direction of the striped candy based on if you are moving a piece up/down or left/right to create the four color combination. The last thing you can create is a bomb, which can be made by making an L shape with your colors. Two up, two over, and then you slide a color in to the "elbow" making it five in a row, but bent. This bomb blows up I think 9 pieces around it, and then it falls down and blows up 9 more. Very useful. Eventually you will discover that if you can create these specialty pieces next to one another and combine them, that even more crazy things will happen.
There are some interesting impediments to your progress along the way. You will learn to hate chocolate pieces, which spawn relentlessly and take away your possible moves unless you destroy them. You will hate the bombs even more. These things run on a timer and if you can't destroy them by the time the timer runs out, you lose. There are black licorice pieces, which are basically wastes of space that block striped candy shots. Brick walls that you must make combos next to in order to break. The list goes on.
The game doesn't tell you any of this coming in either. So it really is learn as you go.
Candy Crush is very addicting. At first glance you wouldn't think it would be that difficult, but it is. There really is a lot of strategy involved in the way you tackle each level. And I love that aspect of the game. Of course, a lot of luck is required too. The graphics are cute and colorful. I like the music to the game as well. That little jingle that is used in most levels is pretty catchy. I'm even a fan of the announcer guy who says things like "tasty" and "sweet". My wife thinks he sounds like a creepo, but I would like to be this guy's friend.
The game itself is free, but it makes its money on micro transactions where you can buy items that help you along. Extra moves, hammers that remove one piece of candy of your choice, free swaps, etc. I told myself coming in that I would not spend a penny on the game, and miraculously I have managed to make it all the way to the end without purchasing anything. There is a wheel that you can spin once every day that gives you a free item, and I have taken full advantage of this, however.
The social aspect (and all of the annoying notifications) comes into play in many different ways. You can send your fellow players extra lives and extra moves. You can ask for these things as well. Also, at certain points in the game you will hit a roadblock where you must get the approval of three of your Facebook friends before you can move on to more levels. If you have dedicated Facebook Candy Crush friends like I do, the social aspect can be a lot of fun. I was surprised to learn that Evel Dick Donato from Big Brother 8 is an avid Candy Crusher and we often send each other crap and help each other out where help is needed. That's kind of neat.
I've had fun racing other friends as well. I was a late bloomer to this game, so by the time I first started it, most of my dedicated friends were far, far ahead of me. I honestly didn't think I would ever catch any of them. I eventually did though. A few of the friends attempted to keep up with me resulting in races to see who could separate from the pack the quickest. I won.
I've gotten to the end of the game several times, but you have to wait for the new levels to come out before you can continue playing. There are always 1 or 2 friends perpetually ahead of me because whatever device they use to play the game updates the levels faster than my phone does. I am okay with the fact that I have a few friends who can access the new levels before I can. I know that if we were to update at the same time, I would give them a run for their money. It is no big deal.
I like how the game designers find a way to add wrinkles to the game and make the new levels interesting. New elements are always being thrown in, like UFOs that dispense bombs, frogs that absorb colored candies, tornadoes that destroy whatever they land upon, and much much more.
My only gripe about the game is that every once in a while I seem to encounter a level or two (or three) that are nearly impossible to complete. Ones that start with bombs that have extremely short timers (usually walled in and protected from all sides) are the WORST. Some of these levels require extreme luck or trial and error before you can beat them. And then you get levels afterward that are so easy, anyone can beat them. There is a little consistency problem with the difficulty here, but I can't complain too much. The game designers have done a fine job with Candy Crush.
All in all, I am very glad I downloaded this game. It went from something I found an annoyance with all the Facebook notifications to something that I play every single day without fail. It is more addicting than crack. Not only is it fun to play, but the social aspect of it really brings out the competitive side in you as well. It is challenging too, which really kept me going. If it was too easy, I may have lost interest. Even when you have made it to the end of the game, there are added bonuses like jelly drops (which give you items when you collect enough of them) that keep you replaying old levels.
This sounds silly to say, but Candy Crush is a big part of my life now. A day doesn't pass where I don't play this game. Every time I have an annoying wait, like for the bus or for an appointment... even when I am just a passenger in the car with nothing to do I can fire up this game immediately lose track of time. It is great. I don't know how I lived my life before Candy Crush.
That's kind of a scary though actually. But hey - I have come to accept it for what it is.
Overall:
A+
No comments:
Post a Comment