green sauce's first game from 2011 but you wouldn't know it from the store page. this is an 'improved' version, apparently, but even their forum post doesn't explain in what way. I'm guessing it's just visuals. has a rotatable board, only seen in their [b]tales of the orient[/b] (and the [b]season match[/b] series by another dev, but there might be other examples). it also offers swap, pop and chain modes, another thing that got forgotten about, these days they just reskin the same simplified-over-the-years m3 thing over and over. or re-release their older titles without a word about the original on the store page.
120 levels (plus 12 skippable jigsaws), relaxed or timed. 4 level packs, each with its own mechanic, so unlike [b]orient[/b], you can't play every level however you want. 30 swap, then with a certain amount of points 30 pop, then a so-called 'token in hand' pack (replace a tile on the board with whatever you're holding, as long as it makes a match), and finally 30 chain levels (no diagonals). levels open up one by one but other packs can be played simultaneously once unlocked. stages can't be replayed until the whole pack is done. there's an intro but no story after, nor upgrades or an ending.
with golden tiles removed comes the skippable 'lead the keys to the chests' section, but they can only move along the golden path and teleporters are also involved. they aren't automatic, have to click where you want the key to go even if there's only one. unnecessary nuisance.
standard power-ups to unlock quickly and charge with matches, then dragged onto the board instead of click-click. some are also found in boxes. explosive tiles created by bigger matches are really underwhelming. shuffle is on a long cooldown, most of the time the level will be done before it can be used, partly due to it resetting for every level, unlike power-ups. and when you do shuffle, [b]no tiles can be moved for a few seconds after[/b]. would be more annoying if it recharged faster but it could also work properly. auto-shuffle on no moves though, unlike in [b]orient[/b], and the end-of-level stats screen can be skipped. puzzle pieces slowly appearing at the end and the board slowly rotating into view with a 'start' pop-up at the beginning of each level can't be.
nice presentation, separate volumes, non-resizable windowed mode ([b]orient[/b] is resizable and it came out before this 'improved' version, so a step back), custom cursor, hint toggle (doesn't affect the [b]really annoying glinting of golden tiles every few seconds[/b], as if they're not obvious enough), some languages and [b]the option to rotate the board with right click, but only in one direction[/b]. why not put it on mouse wheel for 2-way action? the arrows are still there to click at least. and for once their 'extras' aren't just credits and privacy policy but an actual help section, also available in the pause menu.
played this right after [b]orient[/b], some of it works better, some of it less so. it's still your basic m3 thing with a few less common traits and some annoyances, so only pick it up on sale.
