Decent game, only quibble is that the "fixed time" puzzles are overly difficult to score 3 stars on, while the "fixed moves" puzzles are fairly easy. You can extend game play with saved points to get to the minimum score needed to complete a level. A nice modification would be If you could also extend the time after you've satisfied the one star requirement in order to score enough points to achieve more than one star.

One correction to my earlier review, which isn't approved yet, so I can't do a reply to it after doing some experimenting: though the X in windowed mode works, the actual way to get out of the game is a box at the bottom of the level tree, which contains the links to the option menu, the awards list, and the exit button - a door icon with an arrow pointing out of it to the left. In fact, the escape button is no longer working for me. Or maybe it only works in certain screens. And, the actual "exit" button is exiting to a HUGE glitch. My desktop is reduced by half vertically - it's at the top of the screen - and the bottom of the screen is black, with a small section of smeared color between them, coming from the game, I think. This messes up the pixel mapping so badly, whatever I click on is the wrong thing, so I can only kill it by mechanically powering down. If this keeps up after a night's rest, I'll have to play the game only in windowed mode, which is acceptable. But, another glitch from this game?

First, the announcement: this game WILL play on 32 bit machines. As usual with these Toomky Games - though not always - the regular link will give you the standard "not a valid Win 32 application" error, but it's not accurate. You'll need to go into the game folder and click on Game, and then it will play normally. You can make your own link to that, if you want, and put it on the desktop, in the Programs section of the Start menu, or even on your quick launch bar. I thought this was a change in the Toomky part of the program, but yesterday's Caveman Rudi and Big Feet worked normally. So maybe yes, maybe it's something else.

The review:

This game was a polarizer on Big Fish, finishing at 2.9 out of 5, and some of that is certainly unwarranted. The people who rated it 2 stars or 1 star basically wanted a different game. They wanted a relaxed mode, and they didn't like chain matching. Early in the game a relaxed mode seems irrelevant. I played 6 levels and saw no clock. Maybe I missed it. But the game in those early levels is number of moves, and doesn't seem timed. In other words, you have to reach your goals by a certain number of moves to clear the level. For that you get awarded bronze, silver, or gold, depending on the number of points you earn. The 1st 5 levels are tutorials, though not marked as such and there are still tutorial aspects in level 6, and likely farther on. But the dynamic changes in level 6, introducing the standard "block" tiles that have to be cleared by matching over them - thus destroying them - but you still have to note the point target in the level window that you click on before you you're taken to the level, or you won't get the gold. Although you should note that you get bonus points for every move that you don't use - the game essentially plays itself by putting power ups on the board then detonating them to destroy chains and thus granting you points. So, you don't necessarily have to ensure you get every point for the gold goal when you destroy the last block and end the level, but it's, again, pretty irrelevant in the early levels.

The reason I say irrelevant is because I found the early levels to lack challenge. They were pretty easy, if you just concentrated on making the longest chains you could. And, with the unique "backtrack" mechanic, and the use of diagonal movement, long chains are not particularly difficult. In fact, I'm a timed player because I like the adrenaline rush of the challenge of having some limitations on me, instead of just playing semi-randomly until I eventually meander to a solution. These limitations sometimes require strategy, but a relaxed player can use no strategy, if they want. Though it's up to them, a relaxed game is a game they really can't lose. So, I prefer the challenge. But, there's little challenge in the early stages here, so, unless the later levels get quite a bit more complicated, no relaxed mode needed. But, of course, I really can't say.

As to chain matching: I love matching. Period. So, chain or drag swapping, though the clicking 2 tiles to swap them 3rd method is a bit cumbersome, but, it's still matching. The other complaint about this game was the odd mechanics. By that, I don't mean the matching mechanic. I suppose you could separate the concept by saying there are play mechanics - the way the game is designed to play - versus the way the game gets you from here to there. When you come back to the game, you are presented with the "level" tree, with 3 levels in a row in empty spaces on the tree, like notches or holes. If you want to go back or forward, though that usually won't apply (though a couple of times the tree screen went back to the bottom, even though I'd completed those levels), you need to click and hold on the screen and scroll up or down the tree. You have to figure this out for yourself. The options in the option screen are also not labeled, but are just symbols. Music and sound on and off are fairly obvious, the notecard looking symbol is windowed mode, the arrow is custom cursor on or off. The "i" - think info - are the credits. The custom cursor for me was finicky. Turned on in windowed mode and sometimes took more than 1 click to turn off. As said, there is no opening screen, so when you're at the tree, you need to hit escape to get out of the game - unless you're in windowed, where you can also click the window's X. On the 1st 5 levels you have no blocks to destroy, so your gold target level is shown in the info box to the left of the puzzle. But, in level 6, it goes to showing your number of allowed moves, though that's also listed at the top of the box, so, as I said, you have to remember the required total before you go into the level screen if you want the gold. The cancel doesn't work well. If I select 1 or 2 "chips" and I hit the right mouse button, it cancels my selection. Once I make 3, however, this no longer works. Right clicking explodes the chain. And, since it has the "backtrack" mechanic, you can't cancel by backing up. Also, the rainbow power up doesn't like diagonal movement through it, and usually forced me into making a vertical or horizontal match, whether I wanted to or not. One nice thing about the rainbow is that you can use it to not only make a match with a different color, but also as a bridge when 2 same color chips are separated by the rainbow chip, which ups your matching options. Btw, WR, I have seen the rainbow mechanic before, I think in one of the Heroes of Hellas series, but, it's certainly not common. Some reviewers also mentioned that there's no Profile option, so only 1 person can play through at a time, at least in making the achievements, and that also hurts replayability. Once you earn an accomplishment - and the extra coins you earned - you've earned it forever, it seems.

I am usually not picky about music or sound, but I agree with the many critics on this game. It has to go off. A tiny music track just repeats while you're playing - and where is this tree, anyway? A Hindu monastery? Weird musical choice! And the frequent "Wows" when you make longish chains!

It seems that these developers payed attention to other match 3s in game play, but not much to any game in external mechanics. Their strange navigation choices - and a touch of glitchiness for me - make this game just a bit frustrating.

I love match 3, but this 1 hasn't grabbed me yet. There isn't enough challenge early to raise any excitement in me, and it's a bit of a snore. And I practically NEVER use that word for a match 3. Hope it gets a bit more challenging farther on.

Still thanks GGOTD and Toomky, and WR and the GGOTD community.

I'm not seeing a way to add or change player accounts. Anyone?

I'm running Win7, tried XP SP3 compatibility mode, no different.

Cute game and well worth the download. But duh, can anyone explain the scoring mechanism to me (like how one get 1, 2 or 3 "stars"?). I'm particularly confused at level 16 which is the first timed level. Struggled forever trying to finish it in time, getting 1 or 2 stars each time (though not clear to me what merited the 2nd one). But FINALLY, after many tries, finished it on time...only to get only a single star. I thought surely that would get me all 3. So....does anyone understand the criteria for rating in this game??? It is a fun game, just wish I understood what constitutes "success".

This is not your daddy's bejeweled. Match chips of the same color vertically, horizontally and also diagonally rather than swapping two chips with over 90 levels. AND you can even retrace your existing selection of chips to pick up others in a different direction so you rarely will get stuck with nothing to select. There are also special chips such as the rainbow that will let you match two different colors if there is a rainbow between them, and others like a lightning chip that will destroy chips in the row vertically or horizontally and a fireball booster that destroys the surrounding tiles. These are earned by creating chains with an indicator that shows how close you are towards getting that powerup chip. Plenty of achievements and standard options such as windowing and turning off sound. This is a keeper and has some nice unique mechanics that enhance the gameplay over your typical match 3 and I havent kept many of these other than a few with interesting mechanics like the puzzle quest series. Rating: B

I like the idea of the game...if only I could play it. The default cursor icon does not display and I can't get to the options menu to select any other options. It just won't let me play the game.

This is a different sort of match 3 where you can match in a diagonal line as well as horizontal and vertical. It has a good tutorial that explains the game play. Well worth trying have really enjoyed playing the game so far.

Today is one of the first Match 3 games the Giveaway site has received in quite some time. What makes this unique is the ability to trace objects outside the playing area. If you've played games like 4 Elements and 4 Elements 2, you have the same trace pattern type of game play, not like this one where you go diagonally however..

The tutorial which is displayed right after the story at the beginning of the game does a good job explaining the trace effect and how powerups affect the flow of the game.

The one thing I did not like about this game is that it does not have a title screen. The game starts right away. I'd like to be able to choose my settings before a game begins. It also seems that once that level is completed, it's for good but you can come back to replay the level over and over again.

The graphics are good and this game actually has HD monitor support so it appears proper on your monitor. Some games that are not HD will stretch the image across the screen or put them in a 4x3 format in the center depending on the configuration of your video drivers.

Overall this game is a fun match 3 variant which you can enjoy over coffee , a rainy day or whenever you feel the need the urge to get your match 3 fix on.

Will not install. It activates and that's all. I've downloaded twice, once with email and again directly, and neither works.