Cave Quest

Pros: -fantastic adventure concept worked into M3 mechanic -good storyline and music Cons: -relatively short game -dated graphics -a little too luck-based It's a little dated looking now because it's 12 years old as of this writing, but wow, a wonderful fusion of adventure and M3 gaming with a bit of HOG tossed in. There are currently 2 games in the Cave Quest series, but each one is a standalone adventure with a different story. In the first Cave Quest, you're helping Isabella find her lost family and the secrets behind a castle. The dialog is very well done with no typos and isn't overly contrived. You are going through a map of scenes which gradually unlock as you solve levels and need to find certain items which are placed/used in other locations. Since not all of a scene unlocks as soon as you reach it, you'll be backtracking quite a bit in the map to discover everything. The game does a great job of keeping track of your tasks in progress, which I really appreciate, as the "chore list" on the bottom left of the game screens is better than the Hint button for jogging my brain as to which location is best to backtrack to in order to do something. The M3 levels are of 3 different types: -traditional clear all tiles and drop target items off the bottom -a scrolling "find target items" along a pathway which you navigate by making matches -battle levels in which you take turns with an opponent Someone had told me that the game was easy...and maybe it is, if you play in the relaxed mode, but the timed option is actually pretty tough because the timer is very aggressive! You definitely need to use the powerups (and buy all the upgrades) to get through, and some levels are more a matter of luck than skill because if you don't get the right pieces coming in at the right time, you're just plain stuck. A couple of levels I had to restart 10 or more times to beat...and oddly, they weren't battle levels. It's not that long a game - took me only a bit over 4 hours on my first run through to complete. No Steam Achievements, but again, it's an old game. ;) If you like Cave Quest, definitely check out Cave Quest 2, which is bigger, better, and much more polished looking for another awesome adventure, albeit still somewhat luck-based in the M3 levels. I'm eagerly awaiting Cave Quest 3 which is in the works.