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[h2]Gaslamp Cases 3 Ancient Secrets Review[/h2]
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[th][h2]Categories[/h2][/th]
[th][h2]Rating[/h2][/th]
[th][h2]Explanation[/h2][/th]
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[td]
[b]Gameplay[/b] 🎮[/td]
[td]
6[/td]
[td]A casual match 3 puzzle game that doesn’t do much to distinguish itself apart from games in the same genre.[/td]
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[td]
[b]Visuals[/b] 🎬[/td]
[td]
6[/td]
[td]It's not a demanding game at all and it could probably run on any rig, it consists of short slideshows of dialogue and then the core game which is the match 3 puzzle.[/td]
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[td]
[b]Sound/Music/Voice[/b] 🎼[/td]
[td]
6[/td]
[td]The music used is repetitive, it seems as if the sound designer only made a handful of backing tracks or they only purchased a few licenses for the background music. There is no verbal dialogue, only text snippets.[/td]
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[td]
[b]Replayability[/b] 🎡[/td]
[td]
6[/td]
[td]I feel like games in this genre are directed to a certain type of niche market, since it's a casual game with a repetitive core gameplay loop, it's not really an experience you can just run through in one sitting.[/td]
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[td]
[b]Price[/b] 💰[/td]
[td]
6[/td]
[td]At $6, I mean this would be a great game for an elderly person or a child who is trying to improve their memory skill or problem-solving ability, but with the vast amount of other games out there I don’t feel like it's particularly worth it.[/td]
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💬[b][u]Introduction[/u][/b]
I haven't played a match 3 title since that fad “Candy Crush”, and as I was never an avid Candy Crush player there were times when I enjoyed the simplicity of it and there was enough content to not make the gameplay loop feel so repetitive, with its challenges and it’s somewhat unique aesthetic. Gaslamps 3 on the other hand, doesn’t do anything spectacular to distinguish itself apart from the myriad of match-3 puzzle games you can find around Steam. Let me explain.
🎮[b][u]Gameplay[/u][/b]
Gaslamps Cases 3: Ancient Secrets feels like your typical run-of-the-mill match 3 puzzle tile games you can find on Steam, much like the vast amount of hidden object games. Since I am no expert in this genre maybe take my opinion with a pinch of salt because if this is the third entry of the game series, clearly they must be doing something right for the avid match-3 puzzle player.
I didn’t much find interest in the story since it kind of just felt like something they stitched on to say “oh look our match 3 puzzle game also has a narrative” a very loose narrative at that, the best way I can explain it is like a wish version of Sherlock Holmes, it didn’t really pique my interest and again it feels like there is some continuation of these characters from previous titles with the continuous mention of “lady who used to have powers, now she can’t use her powers anymore for some unknown reason” and I never played Gaslamp Cases 1 and 2 because before I played it I had no idea it existed, so in hindsight, the third title in the series isn’t a very good jumping-off point.
I never understand games that lock the story behind grinding repetitive levels to unlock some form of experience or in this case (stars), just because you gatekeep the story doesn’t mean the person playing is going to be so motivated to keep playing the same thing over and over again to engage in some lackluster narrative, And I don’t really think the term “upgrades” was appropriate in its usage, normally an upgrade is an item or an ability that tends to justify the core gameplay loop but instead here all it does is gives you the story. And the values behind the star points needed start becoming pretty ludicrous quite quickly, You go from needing 6 stars in the first chapter to needing like 56 stars in the next, and every time you “purchase” an upgrade it removes the star value from your total amount of stars, so in order to complete chapter 2 for example you need like 140 something stars, keeping in mind each stage you complete only awards you like 6-20 stars, so the core gameplay loop runs its course quite quickly.
If you’ve ever played a match 3 puzzle game then you’ve played this match 3 puzzle game, like I said earlier Gaslamps 3 doesn’t do anything to distinguish itself from the “crowd”, you have to match tiles of the same object, and then if you match 5 you get a bomb which kills off the 9 surounding tiles around it, there is also “power-ups” which I never really used because its a match-3 puzzle game and its about as challenging as tying your shoe. And all the power-ups basically do the same thing, like destroying a certain row or column of tiles or destroying a single-type of tile. I mean they throw some curveballs at you by locking certain tiles so that you need a specific type of tile to unlock that tile to remove it from the board, but that doesn’t really make it much more interesting. The reason Candy Crush was so successful was its aesthetic and its challenge, its time limit, and its limited move system are what made it addictive, Gaslamps has a time-limited mode but like I said, a time limit doesn’t do anything to distinguish the difference between the two, if anything now it feels less rewarding because you are prone to failure for a story that you don’t really care about.
🎬[b][u]Visuals[/u][/b]
As far as match-3 puzzle games go, it’s got the right visuals. It doesn’t do anything spectacular or next-level. The story is told through what’s more or less a slide show and the dialogue is presented in text snippets which you can’t help but read in the most Britsh of accents (well at least I did).
All and all it's what you can expect from those old games you used to play at your grandparent's house when you used to visit, you know when you would google “free games to play online” and your choices were either solitaire, hidden object games, or match-3 puzzles. Yeah, this is one of those.
🎵[b][u]Sound/Music/Voice[/u][/b]
The best way I can describe the background music is “Disney”, more akin to the movie “Up” specifically, which I wouldn’t mind actually, I rather enjoy Disney movie compositions. My gripe with the background music in this game is that I’m convinced they only had like 2 or 3 songs that kept playing in a loop on the same level, even when it was different chapters.
There is no voice acting and sound effects are what you would expect from this type of game. Nothing really new or interesting in either of these departments.
📃[b][u]Pros and Cons[/u][/b]
[b][u]Pros[/u][/b]
● It’s easy to play
[b][u]Cons[/u][/b]
❖ Story was lackluster
❖ Its gameplay loop got repetitive
❖ The repeated background music
❖ It’s gatekeeping of story progression
☁[b][u]Final Thoughts[/u][/b]
Look, like I said I’m no expert in casual match-3 puzzle games, so for someone out there, none of what I’ve written here could apply or they might have a differentiating opinion, but for the average joe who indulges themselves in the releases today. There just isn’t enough to recommend this title. This game is great as a gift for your grandparents or maybe even younger brothers and sisters. But like I said this is something directed at a certain niche of people who just aren't predominant in today's gaming society. Sadly, it didn’t age well.
Rating: 6/10
