[b]match three pirates[/b] is the developer's second attempt at a match-3 game, the first being [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/970030]gems of magic: lost family[/url], a masterclass on what [i]not[/i] do do in a match-3. based on that I didn't expect anything good here, and while at first I thought I was wrong, the proverbial cat eventually crawled out of the bag.
there's more of a story in this, voiceovers too, and not just in the intro. pleasant surprise. I mean they're not great but I've heard worse. a mother (that's you) and her son are at a carnival, the kid opens a treasure chest and they both end up in pirate-land, but the kid is nowhere to be found. oh no...
[b]100 levels[/b] this time, still unlocked one by one, still with a [b]mandatory move limit[/b], but something I've not seen often, maybe ever, is [b]once the goals are met, you can move on or keep playing for more gold and a better rating[/b] with the remaining moves. though I guess most games automatize this by adding points for every move left. 4 boosters can be bought before every level, provided they are unlocked. they can be all the same if you want, but each costs more than the previous one for that level and [b]if you don't use them, they disappear when the level ends[/b]. ♥♥♥♥ move.
right at the start you get a [b]pirate ship, upgrading it provides permanent bonuses and unlocks boosters[/b]. skulls from the 3-skull rating system are used for boosters, the usual hammer, bomb, switch gems, etc. plus extra moves and such. very useful and just as expensive, so by level 15 I still had nothing unlocked, as I was saving up for shuffle.
gold can be farmed by replaying earlier levels and gets you items that lead to more money for matches, reduced booster costs, faster hints, etc. very small percentages, might not even be worth buying them, as boosters themselves also cost money. and I wish tooltips for upgrades showed costs, not just purpose, having to click everything to see if you can afford them is not great.
gold can also be used on the [b]roulette[/b] as well. set the amount you want to lose, I mean gamble, and spin away. I tried it a few times, won 50 gold by betting 100, lost 100 gold, and got some extra spins that also cost money. great deals, so best not bother.
[b]matching 4+ gems creates various bonuses[/b], which are necessary to open treasure chests on the levels, sometimes as a goal, other times optional. there are all sorts of annoyances, like red skulls turning adjacent tiles into skulls every turn, or monkeys doing essentially the same. skull tiles can't be interacted with, but monkeys just tie stuff down, those can be part of matches. bombs or matching next to these pests gets rid of them, though the monkey actually has to be chased off the level. same with seagulls that steal your money. there's supposed to be an octopus too, didn't get that far.
[b]great presentation once again[/b], both graphics and music, and the map here is more than a single screen, looks really nice. separate volume settings for sound, music and ambience, not for speech though, it's bundled with sound, making effects very loud, speech barely audible. [b]no sound effects for breaking crates or explosions[/b], which can be very satisfying, while here it's just disappointing. windowed mode with a non-resizable window, always appearing in the top left corner, plus a custom cursor.
and I never thought I'd say this, but [b]matching animations are too fast[/b], hard to make out what's going on with all the cascades and such, and you're dropped back to the map within a split second after a failure. if there was a speed setting, I'd work my way up to this and wouldn't have a problem, but it needed some getting used to. and even at this speed crates break really slowly for some reason.
unfortunately, [b]the game is very buggy[/b], on top of being relatively expensive. cascades don't always complete, [b]leaving 3 or 4 of the same thing on top of each other instead of matching them[/b], have to do it yourself, using up a move. and possibly even worse, [b]goal tiles don't always spawn[/b]. as early as level 10 you have to get 3 pieces of a sail, but it doesn't always happen (don't kill the monkey too fast, I think it makes more, not sure why),
level 15 is even more of a crapshoot, that's where [b]I decided not to waste more time on this, nor on any of this deveveloper's other games[/b]. during my last attempt [b]the move counter went into negative[/b], so I could finish it, but couldn't leave the level. excellent stuff, to the bottom of the ocean with this chest of trash.
