Latest Reviews

For a puzzle game to really succeed, it either has to be so simple it's sublime (see Bejeweled or Tetris) or loaded with depth (Jewel Quest, Ancient Quest of Saqqarah). Anything in between, and things get a little murky. The awkwardly-titled Dreamsdwell Stories, unfortunately, falls into that middle ground. Read more»

Previously released as Scrubbles to a lukewearm reception, re-engineered for mobile and Facebook where it became a hit, and now re-released as a PC download, Bubble Town is an expansion of marble-popping classics like Bust-a-Move.

When a developer makes a game that actually tries to do something different, it's nice when the attempt actually works out. Bubble Town is a great example of what happens when almost everything goes right.

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In Fairy Island, pirates capture fairy friends and imprison them inside magical diamond stones known as tokens. Your job is to track down the pirates around Fairy Island to free the fairies in this match-three adventure that has four play modes and three game modes. Each play mode is a different variation of match-three, which keeps things fresh and alluring. Read more»

The idea behind Jenguu, a match-three puzzler from small, ironically-named Canadian developer Vast Studios, is solid: Players clear blocks that slowly stack up on posts by matching them according to their material and size. Alas, lazy design, poor production values, and an unfortunately low level of difficulty keep the game from reaching its full potential. Read more»

What if you could gather all of the world's most famous tourist attractions and put them together in one spot for you to watch for as long as you live? Wouldn't that be awesome? Well, in World Voyage, a match-3 adventure developed by Sahmon Games, you can do exactly that. Read more»

In the short history of create-your-own-world match-3 games, Lost in Reefs follows the same gameplay mechanics where you gather enough supplies during the actual puzzle games in order to purchase buildings reconstructing a once-famous dragon city. The question is: what does this game offer more for seasoned players of the genre? Read more»

For people who are turned off by the complexity and micro-management of most strategy games, there's Floating Kingdoms, a king of strategy-lite that holds the player's hand through everything from gathering resources to deciding which structures to build next. In fact, the game does so much for you that it sucks a little too much of the challenge out of what was otherwise an interesting concept. Read more»

The (Insert Skill) for Dummies series of books was created to help us succeed in skill areas where we were previously deficient or incompetent. So when I heard about Brain Training for Dummies, my first thought was, "How could they make a game that was How Not To Be a Dummy... for Dummies? Well, I've been pleasantly surprised. Read more»

If you mini-games are the best part of many casual games, you're really going to like Ancient Secrets from GameHouse, an otherwise ordinary puzzle/adventure game. It offers creative twists on some old standards like concentration and Othello as well as some of the best slider puzzles we've seen. The game also mixes in some hidden object scenes, but these are less successful. Read more»

Finding Doggy from Jaibo Games is a very slow-paced match-3 game that requires relying on luck instead of strategy. Plentiful and potent power-ups remove much of the challenge, though. This can be a fun game for families to play together, but will offer little of interest to most individual players. Read more»

Whenever I'm on the subway, I always see someone with a folded up newspaper, pen in hand, veins popping out of their forehead, trying to scrawl numbers into a grid - they're playing Sudoku. While I understand the basics of how to do it, I have to admit I never understood the point of hte challenges, or how to even begin. Sudoku for Dummies is here, but will it make me a logic whiz? Read more»

Call of Atlantis - the third in the series of popular match-three puzzlers - deftly avoids the disturbing tendency to churn out identikit sequels to score a quick buck, delivering instead a spectacular return to form for the franchise. As an added bonus, it's also proof positive that a little time and effort is all it takes to reinvent nearly any adventure in the eyes of even the most jaded critics, much to our delight and surprise. Read more»

The third edition of the 7 Wonders series sends you on a journey to nine countries and their famous landmarks, beginning with the Monastery of Sergiev Pasad in Russie, the spiritual home of the Russian Orthodox Church. Build wonders to unlock ancient compasses that reveal more wonders to build, until you face a final journey in hopes of reaching the Treasures of Seven. Read more»

Every now and again, when you boot up a game, you can just tell it's going to be special. It's hard to put your finger on it, but after that first click of the mouse it's there. You're hooked, and you know that you're playing a rare gem of a game. World of Goo is one of those games. Read more»

Halloween is just around the corner and there's no better way to celebrate the festive season of ghouls and ghosts than playing a match-'em-up game with a spooky theme. Spooky Spirits fits the bill perfectly, but will this game add enjoyment to your Halloween? Well, that's what we're here to find out. Read more»

With more than 350 million copies downloaded and more than 25 million units sold, PopCap's Bejeweled games are without question the most popular casual game franchise of our time. Little did the developers know in 2000, when Diamond Mine launched (later to be renamed Bejeweled), this simple yet addictive puzzler would spawn countless clones, sequels and spin-offs for multiple platforms.

As you probably heard by now, PopCap is back with its most ambitious follow-up to date: Bejeweled Twist. Nearly four years in the making, this game attempts to reinvent the match-three genre. Did PopCap Succeed? Yes and no.

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In the match-three market, it takes a strong, unique idea or mechanic to really stand out, and Jungle Quest, the latest puzzler from Friday's Games, just might have it. Unfortunately, though, it's hampered by some quality issues. Read more»

The Snow Queen in the original Season Match returns. In Season Match 2, Prince January has taken over his sister's fairytale kingdom and turned it into a nightmare. He also holds all of the artifacts giving him control of the seasons. Ice and snow covers the castles of the three princesses of seasons and the Snow Queen. The kingdom's little dwellers -- ladybirds, bees, dragonflies and butterflies -- struggle to survive the bitter winter. Read more»

Normally, insects can present huge problems for farms, ruining crops, infecting cattle with disease and spreading blight throughout the land. In googly-eyed hero Beetle Bug's latest adventure, Green Valley - Fun on the Farm, though, they're actually in charge of turning an ailing estate and its fallow fields into a thriving concern. Read more»

Pop quiz: What do ghosts, talking owls and sunny seaside getaways have in common? They're all part of Pakoombo, a catchy new tropical match-three puzzler set to a Calypso beat. While not particularly groundbreaking, and saddled with several inherent design flaws, it's nonetheless a respectable attempt to jazz up an overpopulated genre. Read more»

Landscaping is one of humanity's most magnificent art forms, and one type made popular by the Japanese involves arranging rocks to form colorful Zen-inspired patterns. This artwork is aptly named a Rock Garden, and the name also refers to a challenging puzzle game from Flipline Studios and Alawar Entertainment. Read more»

Ikibago: The Caribbean Jewel is a swashbuckling match-three adventure that offers up some unique gameplay gems as well. Players sail the seven seas, adding to their treasure trove by hauling in loot of three or more like-colored barrels while keeping an eye out for the ultimate prize: the famed Ikibago jewel. Read more»

There goes an old saying that you'll find a prince if you kiss enough frogs. Boomzap's Frogs in Love manages to kiss an awful lot of frogs (well, mini-games) and finds itself a pondful of princes. Too bad that the whole package has a bit of a pauper problem. Read more»

If you're looking for a head-scratching collection of puzzles to solve, then downloading Crazy Machines is a real no-brainer. Read more»

The Chromates are in need of a hero to bring back color to their lands, and there's no one better to fill that position than you as you pit yourself against hundreds of brain-wracking 3D puzzles in Chromentum 2. Read more»