Astro Match3 is a puzzle game where you must match three or more of the same symbols to remove them from the board. It is a popular puzzle genre but does Astro Match3 stand out from the many others?
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Astro Match3 has two types of control mode; Traditional and Mary. These modes refer to how you move symbols around the board, in the traditional way such as Bejewelled, you move an adjoining symbol either horizontally or vertically to match three or more of the same symbol. The Mary mode does away with the adjoining rule and instead you can move the previous moves square symbol to any square on the board to match three or more.
This new mode may sound like it makes the game incredibly easy, it is easy but not as much as you would think as both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. I started off preferring the traditional mode after being a massive Bejewelled fan, but after spending time on Mary mode I have started to enjoy it a lot more. The two modes complement each other and while there is no difference in the game modes apart from the matching method you get the best of both worlds.
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There are 60 levels in total, 30 on each control mode, which have a planetary theme with names such as Venus and Mercury. The aim of the game is to light up the grid by turning all the squares yellow by matching three or more symbols, once matched the symbols square turns yellow. A fairly generous time limit is given in which you must complete the level.
As you play a level it will start to get harder to light up the remaining few squares. so to help you have five powers you can use. The first will jumble all the symbols on the screen, the second will destroy a 3×3 grid of squares, the third will destroy all the chosen same symbols on the grid and the final two will destroy a row or column of symbols. The power ups are very useful but I feel that you earn them a bit too easily and can often use them all to complete a level without having to actually match any symbols at all.
Presentation is OK, everything is neatly laid out and is functional, a nice touch is that in between levels some mythology on the planetary names are displayed. Graphics are drawn well, everything is clear to see and is animated when you match symbols. The music is non intrusive and provides something good to listen to in the background which doesn’t get too repetitive. Sound effects are used well and can be heard for matching symbols and using powers.
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There are 60 awards to achieve which are represented by Planetary Jewels which you gain upon completing a level. I would have liked to have seen a few more awards such as chaining matched symbols and reaching a high score to give some goals and variety. A high score table is included but I found it a little confusing as your score is continued throughout the game and both control modes making the individual level scores pointless. Some different game modes such as a Free Play where you must try and match symbols for an highscore would have been a welcome addition, but there is enough content so while it is not needed it would have been great for more replayability.
At 240 :MSPoints: it is good value for money, I would estimate it would take over six hours to fully complete all sixty levels which seems fair for this type of game. Fans of this genre will enjoy the traditional control mode and I think they will be happy with the new Mary control which makes the game stand out from the more commonly used traditional controls. Astro Match3 gets a thumbs up from me.
You can find more information as well as the trial and full version of the game on the Marketplace.
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