Claws & Feathers

Claws & Feathers is another addictive and challenging puzzle game from Alawar Entertainment. A fusion of Match 3 and puzzle fair, the gameplay is pretty unique and fun. And despite looking a bit like Angry Birds in the art department, it is anything but. Birds are striking back after a gang of nasty cats stole their eggs, but rescuing their offspring may be trickier than they thought! The gameplay is more complex than it first appears. We're given a game board with birds and cats sprinkled about. Matching 3 of the same colored bird will remove them from the board, and to remove the cats and reveal the keys they're hiding you need to surround them with birds of the same color. This is easier said than done as any move that does not result in a match adds colored eggs to the board. An additional non-match move and the eggs hatch into full birds which will quite often block your path. Too many bad moves, and you run the risk of getting blocked in and not being able to complete the stage. Planning your strategy and working out the best series of moves is required to get through the game. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=414264314 Each stage has an objective that must be completed in order to earn a gold egg. While failure doesn't prevent you from progressing on to the next stage (as long as you free the required number of chicks), the gold objective adds an extra layer of strategy to a lot of the game boards and helps bulk up play time as you'll often have to replay levels multiple times to earn gold. This is something I really enjoy about a lot of these casual games; while you can certainly play them more casually, goals that encourage challenging yourself opens the game to even the not-so-casual crowd. The difficulty ramps up pretty quickly too, so don't think it'll be easy sailing getting gold eggs on all stages, even the earlier ones will have you stumped and replaying multiple times. As you get further into the game, additional mechanics (bombs, chained birds, fireworks) introduce even more complexity to the level designs, mixing things up and keeping gameplay interesting and challenging. Some stages are pretty dang clever, too. The nice thing is that outside of a handful of stages with timed gold objectives, you can take as much time as you like to complete each. So if you need to study the game board for a few minutes to plan out your moves, there's no ticking clock to worry about, it's just you and the birds. This is great for those looking for less hectic "casual" gameplay but also works well for the times you can't dedicate your full attention to a game. My only complaint is that the timed levels can be rather hectic and stressful, the later ones taking dozens of tries to perfect, but this is only one small gripe for a game that is a ton of fun otherwise. The presentation is top notch, as well. I don't know why, but the sound effects are one of my favorite parts of the game; I just love the chirps the birds make as they fly off, it's so silly and cute. The music is also great, reminding me of classic cartoons with their jazzy and lighthearted scores. Graphics aren't anything fancy, but cute and fitting for the type of game this is. And really, who doesn't like a mustachioed bird? With 56 levels and 30 achievements, there's quite a bit to play through. Progress tracking on the achievements is a much appreciated addition, but they could definitely use Steam Integration. At least it has trading cards to help sweeten the deal. Although it took a bit to get the hang of the mechanics, I'm now squarely hooked on these birds. There's just something about those trickier levels that makes you feel awesome once you finally snag gold. Claws & Feathers is definitely worth a look if you're searching for a good puzzler without (for the most part) the craziness of time crunch games. Bottom Line: Recommended for strategy game enthusiasts and anyone needing to scratch that puzzle game itch. [code][h1]Curated by: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33004802-Chudah%27s-Corner/]Chudah's Corner[/url][/h1][/code]

Claws & Feathers is the perfect example of appearances that can be deceiving. Bright, fluffy birdies and cute kitties feature in this game, which at first glance looks like a really easy and casual match-3 type game. A few levels in and the fur and feathers are flying (figuratively and sometimes literally) as you try to maneuver your pieces around the board while thinking multiple moves ahead like some master chess strategist. In the game, your chicks are trapped in locked cages and you must free them. To accomplish this, you move birds around the game board, matching 3 of the same color in order to clear some of the birds off by letting them take flight. The idea is to clear paths on the game board between golden keys and the locked cages. Making all of this much more difficult is the fact that every move causes eggs to appear and more birds to hatch. Sometimes you might clear some part of the board just to block other parts on the same move, a bit like taking a step forward while also sliding backwards. This definitely forces you to think several moves ahead as you play. Additional game mechanics, like cats and bombs, can further hinder or help your progress as you try to clear obstacles blocking the way. Don't be fooled by the cute, Claws & Feathers gets hard fast. The timed missions are particularly difficult, and I found just completing those levels a challenge. Solving the conditions of each puzzle board is going to take multiple repeats, and I honestly found the game a little frustrating at times. However, if you're looking for a challenging strategy puzzle game masquerading as a casual match-3 timespinner, you will find it in Claws & Feathers. [i]A review copy of this game was provided by the publisher.[/i]

Fun little level based puzzle game that's a bit of a different take on Match 3. The premise may sound familiar, some birds are angry that their friends are kidnapped, this time by cats. Don't expect a physics game though. This is a straight puzzle game that plays closer to a match 3 though significantly different, and I would say more complex, than something like Bejeweled. The staple of the gameplay is to remove birds of the same color from the playing field, a roof, by aligning three of the same color. You can do this in a row or in an L shaped corner. The trick is that a bird can only move where there's an open path, so no obstacles like another bird blocking it, and if you move a bird without making a 3 or more group match then more birds will show up on the playing field adding more obstacles. There are little eggs of different colors showing where the new birds will 'hatch' and sometimes you actually want to make a move that's not a match in order to get a bird of a particular color to appear so there's a bit of strategy to it all. Other additions are made to the gameplay such as this cats, the 'Claws' part of the game, who you must surround on either side to fly them off the playing field, birds who are chained up and need a match to be released and hidden keys. Note that some of the levels are timed as well but not all. Each level has different requirements so there's a lot of variety and you never quite know what to expect. I liked the unpredictability that you had other goals to meet besides simply rescuing the birds that varied with each level. I was a bit apprehensive of the timed levels at first since I prefer to play puzzle and casual strategy games at a slower pace where I have more time to think out my moves but after a few tries I was able to get through them without much problem. It forced me to play in a bit of a different way for those levels which again I found to be a nice variety. As with most level based casual games this is one where you don't need to make a huge time commitment and can play a level or two here and there in short bursts. From a technical standpoint the visuals were all done well, looked great in full screen. I experienced no bugs errors or technical issues. If you're looking for a puzzle game that's a little bit different and more complex than a simple match 3 and you like variety I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Claws and Feathers.

A pretty solid puzzle game in the match-3 vein, where the basic mechanics remain the same from level to level, but each stage can be a chain of puzzles to solve to get to the goal, or just board-control where you need to keep clear paths as new pieces spawn, or even "make a path to the one key to open the goal". It's varied and while it might use similar versions of an objective, they don't repeat and the boards are shaped around new experiences. If you want to go above and beyond the usual, every stage has a "golden egg" challenge to meet as well, and it kept this challenging even for my skills with the genre, especially by the end of the game. Overall a fantastic title unless you've got some kind of revulsion to Looney Tunes "violence" (bombs turning cartoon animals to ash and eyeballs, etc) or the genre itself.

First impression: decent casual puzzle game with lots of levels. It works a lot like [i]Hexus[/i]: if you make empty moves that don't lead to a combination, some empty spaces turn into eggs and the existing eggs turn into birds, cluttering up the playing field (or providing welcome reinforcements). Some of the bonuses are timed. Since this is only a first impression and I haven't played it all that much, so obviously I don't know how difficult the game is going to get, but this being a casual game, I don't really expect more than medium difficulty. The game delivers what you'd expect, no surprises, but it's not as outstanding as the 100% recommendations might lead you to believe. It runs in a window and works on older computers, too. There's a sequel.

+ Unique, solid mechanics. + Good variety in level design. - Randomization makes some goals impossible or just tedious if you don't get the pieces you need. - Soundtrack's kind of annoying. Definitely recommended for match 3 fans.

I guess "Claws & Feathers" must be the quasi-Match-3 equivalent of "Dark Souls:" it's just too hard (for me). But, even the difficulty level might have been tolerable if they hadn't included timed puzzles. With those, the frustration level just gets to be too much to bear. And for icing, as they introduce mechanics into the game, they don't necessarily bother to explain them. Oh, it looks like they do. In a couple of cases, they'll put something up at the start of a level saying click here and drag something somewhere. But, that's an exception. In general, you have to hit the Help button to see a general description of things. But, it lacks detail. Again, if they had just left out the timed puzzles, I'd have probably been OK with the game. But, as it is, after 9.4 hour and 21 levels, I'm throwing my hands up in disgust and quitting. Not Recommended.

[b][u]Game Information[/u][/b] "Claws & Feathers" is a Match 3 game. The game was developed by Alawar Entertainment and published by Buka Entertainment. "Claws & Feathers" is the first episode of "Claws & Feathers." [b][u]The Game Review[/u][/b] Game Visuals I want to mention that the visuals in the game are nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu. Game Audio I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well. Gameplay There are no set game difficulty modes to choose from in this game. All the levels have their own set difficulty. Please do note that there is an option of replaying the same level over again. This option is given at the end of all levels. This is a match 3 game, the objective is simple, you have to make matches of three or more tokens to clear them from the board. There are several different types of match 3 game styles: Swap; Chain and Group. The "Swap" style is where you switch two tokens either vertically or horizontally. The "Chain" style is where you link all like tokens going in any directions. Such as: Up to Down; Left to Right and Diagonally. The "Group" style is where you clear a bunch of similar tokens from the board in one move. The match 3 style in this game is a new one: Click n' Drop. But the strategy for the game remains the same. Match three or more to clear them from the board. There are ten different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked. These are in-game achievements only. Miscellaneous There are five different trading cards to collect. The game only drops three of those trading cards. There are several ways to get the rest of the trading cards: Purchased from the Steam's Community Market; Trade with friends; Booster Packs; and its' Booster Pack Creator. Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

Приятная казуалка с ещё одной вариацией механики "три в ряд". Такая игра неплохо годится для решения простых загадок, когда появляется настроение на подобное времяпровождение. Разноцветные птички явно навеяны другой известной аркадой...

Поставлю палец вверх, но на деле обзор скорее нейтральный - игра где-то на троечку по пятибалльной шкале. Claws and feathers представляет из себя вариацию на тему три-в-ряд с мультяшными птичками и котами в качестве шариков, что вместе с указанным на странице стима ограничением по возрасту 6+, говорит о том, что основной целевой аудиторией являются дети начальной школы. Не могу сказать, насколько это будет интересно детям - мне кажется им больше понравится что-то более активное, но в целом игра получилась скучновата из-за того, что новые птицы-шарики появляются на поле случайным образом, да еще и требуют по сути пустого хода для появления. По этой причине тут довольно сложно как-то планировать ходы и это убивает ту тактическую составляющую, которая обычно присутствует в подобных играх. Кроме того, выполнение части опциональных заданий еще и имеет ограничение по времени/ходам, что в сочетании с рандомом, игре на пользу не идет.