Amanda's Sticker book

In Brief

A quirky match three game ideal for all levels of skill. The game gets very challenging as you progress through to new rooms. Watch out for the boss levels

Introduction:

Amanda's Sticker Book is an exciting match-3 puzzle game that's fun for both kids and adults! Put your matching skills to the test as you swap stickers and use power-ups to clear each puzzle. Amanda is counting on your match-3 talents to make her dreams come true!

The annual sticker book competition is just around the corner, but Amanda's masterpiece has been ruined by her haphazard little brother. There isn't much time to fix it and Amanda will need all the help she can get. To restore the sticker book, you'll complete 79 puzzle levels spread across five different rooms, each one filled with stickers to swap and match. Special power-ups let you clear out those tough to reach stickers, and with each stage you complete, Amanda's sticker book will be one step closer to perfection. Match as fast as you can. Amanda can't do this without you!

20+ upgrades!

Five rooms to explore!

More than a dozen elements to gather!

Reference accessed HERE 20th Feb 2016

If you wish to see the installation and problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread you can find it HERE and the recent games deals (now called The Weekly roundup of game deals) is HERE

A quirky match three game with cartoon like graphic, that is ideal for the match three beginner and enthusiast alike, though it also has a few surprises that may appeal to the seasoned match three player. The usual options are available, i.e. toggle full screen to windowed (defaults to full screen), sound effects and music sliders and a toggle to turn off a tutorial, power ups, locking elements and elements to collect.

I thought there was nothing new with this game initially (partly due to being called away early into my game play and draft review); it was only later, after I'd played it further that I realized there were some elements I'd not seen in a match three game before such as the rotating element surrounded by a bubble that enables you to select which element you want and the end of stage boss level where a creature guards the room; you have to beat the creature before it absorbs all of the time available to complete the level, so that you can then progress to the next room/stage. The game should definitely appeal to the younger player, with it's cartoon like graphics, it's simple (though not so simple at times) game play and happy feel to it, but for those who consider themselves experts at this genre, don't let the simplistic look fool you; there's some hidden depths to this game that I didn't see at first. I've had to re write (and rethink) some parts of this review once I'd played it for a couple of hours.

To help get through the more difficult levels you've got three different power ups, the hammer for removing a single tile, a bomb for removing a small group of tiles (4) and the collector which enables you to clear/collect all of the same element; it also removes brown tiles under those elments and unlocks ropes. This is a very useful power up for collecting elements that you need to collect to complete a level. For example, in level 1-5 you can use the collector (for the first time) to clear all of the watch elements on the board; of which there will be 45 to collect. Using the collector immediately clears 26 of the tiles, making it easier to gain three stars. Each level is awarded one, two or three stars depending on how quick you complete the level, this does add a little stress to the game if you are a player who likes to attain the top grade in each level, but those of you who are not as bothered, the game can be very pleasing in what it throws at you. Because I was constantly looking for screen captures and stopping to write notes for the review i usually take much longer to complete a level so rarely got three stars, but i never ran out of time and never felt like i was going to run out of time. you can see how much time you have via the indicator to the right of the game board.

Each level has specific requirements to complete; you have to collect the elements shown at the top of the board, sometimes only two types of element, but sometimes more. At least one of those requirements will be to clear away all the brown tiles that are located beneath elements, which appear to comprise of several different elements depending on which level you are on. Later on there will be more layers added, making it harder to complete that requirement, but that's only to be expected in this genre. The further into the game you progress, the harder the levels become to complete. Some of the elements you'll see early on in the game include animals such as the panda, sweets, ice cream, watches, diamonds and spiders. more elements are added as you move through the rooms. Creating matches fills the mana meter/power meter, which in turn unlocks one of the three power ups. When you create a match of four you fill the energy meter slightly faster than with match three's, and if you create a match 5 or more you get a double energy bonus filling the mana meter even faster. When the meter is full it unlocks a power up. From level 4 onward you can collect elements such as diamonds (looks more like a heart shaped ruby), that you have to move to the bottom of the board to collect. If there is a locked element below the diamond heart you will need to clear that locked element first before the diamond will move down. Also introduced around level four are locking elements. You will see ropes across some of the elements, these can be removed by creating a match with the locked element. Locked elements can be removed using any of the power ups. Double locks are introduced from level 7 onward; these can be removed in one go by using a power up.

Five kinds of elements are needed to buy upgrades, these are non candies, animals, diamonds, brown or green tiles and spiders. Animal elements are not as common as the other elements and may require a different strategy to collect. To purchase certain upgrades you do need to collect spiders, which appear from level 7 onward. These are collected (or defeated) in the same was as the diamonds are by creating matches beneath them except they move around freely on the board. Once you've created a match under them they will fall off the board. Spiders also leave spiders webs that lock elements in place like the rope and are also cleared in the same way as a rope by creating a match with them. If you clear a web before the spider has been removed the spider runs off and you won't get the spider added to the spider counter. When a star appears above the elements counter list to the top left of the board it indicates that you can afford a sticker book upgrade. There are five rooms to explore in Amanda's Sticker Book. To progress to a new room you have to complete all tasks in that room, for example in the first room you have to remove pizza and ketchup from the sticker book, clean away the glue, erase the scribbling/drawings and wipe off the foot prints. To attain each one of these you have to collect specific numbers of elements that are recorded in the elements counter. At the top of the sticker book illustration is a progress bar that rates your progress and indicates the condition of your sticker book.

Other points to note: You can create matches while the previous matches are still under way, you don't need to fill the mana meter to gain the hammer power up (it usually appears when you've filled about a third of the indicator), and the bomb power up looks like it's ready to use, but you can;t until you see a glow around it. Sometimes it seems that there are not enough elements to complete the requirement, for example the brown squares, however, new ones appear when you've cleared them to ensure you can complete the level. If you decide to leave a level before it is completed, when you return you will have to start that level from the beginning. Finally, it's not easy to attain three stars in most levels unless you are very focus and like a challenge.

...........Video footage may contain SPOILERS.......

You’ll find videos of Amanda's Sticker Book game play HERE & HERE

You can also see a slideshow of 36 images, including the tutorial screens HERE

Conclusion:

As mentioned above, don't let the cartoon like graphic lul you into thinking this is a basic and easy match three like it did with me initially. When i got down to playing the game properly later in the day I realized some of the conclusions I'd made in my first draft of my review were totally wrong. I've amended those now and hopefully have covered all of the bases. I've actually only played the first two rooms, so more surprises may appear later in the game. If you do find those, please do let the community know.

I highly recommend this game to all levels of expertise from the rank beginner to the expert match three player. There's something for everyone in this game. Although the graphic lends itself to the younger player, i do think they will struggle to complete later levels unless supported by their parents. Overall a very satisfying game. This one is definitely a keeper for me. I'll probably buy it eventually. hoping to see it on Steam soon.

Scoring

Game play: 8

Graphics: 7.5

Audio: 7

Re-playability: 8

Originality: 7.5

Fun Factor: 8

Overall Score = 46 out of 60 = 7.67 out of 10

Extra information

You can find the problems section that used to be posted here in the Game FAQ's thread now, which you can find HERE

. I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals, formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. Yoiu can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

You can see comments about Amanda's Sticker book from the Big Fish community HERE. There is a forun section over at Big Fish as well, but there are no comments to see yet. If you wish to post comments about the game you can find the forum HERE. If you have any technical issues running amanda's Sticker book, apart from the FAQ's thread over in the game giveaway forums, which you can find HERE. You can also find other issues specific to this game HERE

If you miss todays game you can get it 24/7 from MyPlayCity.