Giveaway of the Day - Age of Japan 2

Age of Japan 2:

This game was originally given away on Boxing day 2007. It received a positive 83% of 353 votes and there were 52 comments made; which you can see by following the link below. The download size is just under 10Mb and when installed nearly:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/age-of-japan-2/#comments

Quote:

Age of Japan 2 continues the oriental theme, that you like so much. Classic match three blends together with relaxing music, nice and harmonious game play. You’ll pass a lot of time enjoying this game. The game’s goal is not only to get three of the same elements together; it is only the instrument in the Master’s hands. You are the tutor of the young Emperor and you must not allow Japan to be destroyed. 35 main and 100 bonus levels, 2 game modes (puzzle and arcade) help you to carry your mission out.

Ref: http://realore.com/games/ageofjapan2/ accessed 28th Aug 2008

System Requirements

o Celeron 900 MHz
o Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
o DirectX 7.0 or later
o 64 MB RAM

The Game
This looks like a beautiful game, with gorgeous music and loads of bonuses and equipment (12), some of which are awarded during game play and others you can buy once you’ve been awarded enough money. For example, the shin guard that removes a fifth of the elements required to win the level, or the double sword that removes all pairs from the board. The game is fully mouse controlled and you can play the game in either full screen or windowed mode. There are two tile sets to choose from; crystals and Japanese objects.

There are three modes of play; Arcade, Puzzle and Bonus, all of which are similar in game play, but thankfully they also have slight variations to make it more interesting..

In the arcade mode, you have to break all the cells within a limited time period. There’s a time indicator in the form of a dragon to the right of the playing board that indicates how much time you have left to complete the level, (this is present in all three modes) As you progress through the arcade levels the tiles become harder to remove. Initially due to there being more than one layer, denoted by silver and gold and then hard to move tiles such as locks, stone, trunk and frozen elements; (though you don’t see all of them at once because they are introduced gradually. For example; the stone was introduced at level 18, which was introduced after the lock The lock comes in more than one ‘strength’, so it can be really difficult to shift some tiles when you have several locked tiles together. These ’impediment’ tiles each has it’s own way of being disposed of which you can read about in the games help section that you’ll find in the main menu, or as a screen capture via the links below. (See images)

All the screens including the story boards are rendered in brightly colored and stylized drawings with a Japanese flavor. The haunting melodies add to the overall effect, (see more info) At the start of each level you are able to see your progress on the map of Japan, then you are taken to a bonus selection screen that includes all the equipment and bonuses that are available in game. There are four equipment bonuses, called the helmet, which shuffles all the game elements, the gloves, which enable you to move any element to one side, the sword, which destroys any game element you choose and lastly the shin guard, which when activated destroys a fifth of the board’s elements. Once you’ve purchased these items of equipment they remain available throughout the game, though you have to earn them each level by destroying a specific number of elements. If you don’t use the items before the end of the level you lose them.

The second ‘puzzle’ mode appears to be easier than the arcade mode, but it gets much harder later on in the game. All three modes are very similar in that they use the same bonuses and equipment as well as impediments.. Time is still an issue with the puzzle mode, but instead of having to remove gold and silver colored elements from the board, you have to make a specific number of moves within the specified time.

The bonus levels appear every fourth level in both the arcade and puzzle mode. The bonus mode is yet another variation on a similar theme where you have to move all the pieces of a broken object to the bottom of the board before the time runs out. With respect to the bonuses once you’ve purchased them they cannot be purchased again for anything between 12 to 15 levels, though some bonuses seem to be available most of the time.

The following images, videos and reviews by others should give you an overall picture of what this game looks and plays like.

Other Reviews:
http://www.terragame.com/downloadable/puzzle/age_of_japan_2/index.html

Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k18DIfLFezY
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=RoL5PpMlwzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRflqR9sby8

Images:
There’s over 70 images:

As a Slideshow
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Age%20of%20Japan%202/?albumview=slideshow
All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Age%20of%20Japan%202/?start=all
Googled
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Age+of+Japan+2&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

Conclusion

This is a very pleasant game with some really relaxing background music, and some gorgeous looking graphics. The game play has enough variety to keep you occupied for some time, though I don’t think it held my attention for as long as some games of this genre, for example: Treasures of Montezuma, Rise of Atlantis (the bonus levels of this game have very similar mechanics to Rise of Atlantis) and Big Kahuna Reef), tough it’s not a bad game. There’s a great story line for those who like the addition of a cartoon strip like story, which appears throughout the game. (Unfortunately I’ve not put the story board in the correct order in my uploaded screen captures {see links above})
I do think the game could be improved by using bonuses that get progressively stronger as you complete more levels (much like they do in Treasures of Montezuma. Also for those who dislike timed levels, a non timed mode would have been a great addition to this game.
It would also have been nice to see a better explanation of the game within the help file because I couldn’t work out whether buying a bonus then meant you kept it for the rest of the game, or whether it had to be re bought after a specific number of levels because whenever I bought a bonus a message would then appear saying “you can buy this bonus after level such and such.
I’ve included some links to a couple of free commercial games that are similar to Age of Japan 2 in the ‘other information’ section that you can see below if you are interested. As with most of Realore games, this game is free standing, which means you can play it from a flash drive or even a CD or DVD if you wished. As for scoring; although it’s pretty, and the game play is good, I don’t think the bonuses are inspiring enough to make it an outstanding game, so I’d estimate that the game is worth 7 out of 10 for family fun and decent game play.
Thank you Realore Studio and the Game Giveaway team for a playable game.

Other information

You can play Age of Japan free online via the following link (just in case you missed the giveaway:

http://www.itexpressions.com/games/ageofjapan2.shtml

There’s also a few games available from Gametop that come close to Age of Japans game play so you may be interested in downloading the following games as well. They are full commercial games that are free; though the price you pay is having your browser opened once you close the game down. The games are otherwise clean of viri and other malware.

Pharaohs Puzzle:
http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/pharaoh-puzzle/download.html

Eldorado Puzzle:
http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/eldorado-puzzle/download.html

Amazon Quest:
http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/amazon-quest/

Ah, yes. Yet another 3 match game. I wonder when they’ll stop making them? Well, they sell, and I’m game.

Critique:
Pros:
Good ambiance, nice style, (of course) good gameplay, easy to understand.

Cons:
Repetitive action, unoriginal gameplay, unsatisfying experience. At least it’s (supposedly) good for you.