May 10, 2006

PC Review: 'Sweety Puzzle'

Non-gamers are Nintendo's Wii little target, non-gamers were the people the PlayStation turned to gamers all those years ago and non-gamers are the market casual games are aiming for. But what are casual games (ask the masses in their booming and state-shattering voices)? Well, according to Wikipedia they are "a category of electronic or computer games targeted at the mass audience, which are peculiar for their simple rules, engaging game design, require no time commitment or special skills from an end user as well as comparatively low production and distribution costs from producer".

A wise and brief description, that so just happens to perfectly fit the subject of this quite modest review: Sweety Puzzle. A quirky, simple and extremely addictive indy-game that comes from Thailand. Yes, Thailand-Asia. A beautiful country you really should be visiting. But, as usual, I digress. Ahhh, yes, Sweety Puzzle. Haven't played a game like this for years: elegant, fun, retro looking and with fine music playing in the background.

The game feels like the mutant offspring of Go, Tetris and Columns. You place colored candies on a pink grid, rotate them, and apparently try to make them go pop! before you run out of time or space. It is actually one of those things that are better experienced, not described. So, just visit Sweety Puzzle's homepage for a hefty demo; then come back here. I have not finished yet.

Sweety Puzzle has an excellent learning curve and a few very tiny glitches, mostly centered around its not-so-well Thai to English translation. It costs less than 7$ or 6 euros. Ok. Now, I've finished.

That's an (eight) out of (ten).

For a downloadable or Java demo (or a purchase) of Sweety Puzzle click here. For an Independent Gaming Sweety Puzzle review, here.

Related Gnome's Lair posts: Lula 3d review, Civilization IV review, Spooks review

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5 comments:

  1. Its funny, because I look exactly the same as the dude in the second picture when I get a 'sweety.'

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  2. I wouldent doubt it, Tom!

    Playing this game would probably be the closest I'd get to Thai culture... well, besides those yummy Thai restaurants with the friendly Taiwanese people...

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  3. Tomleece: Oh, you do now, don't you? Great. Just brush your teeth regularly and you'll be ok. (that's free advise, and a blog of wide scope)

    Ross: What a strange country you live in... Taiwanese waiters in Thai restaurants. Plain weird. Here, Thai restaurants usually employ people from the Philipinnes. Go figure...

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  4. Hi Gnome, I have added a link to your lair to my blog links list. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you both guys... Abaddon, link should be up any moment now...

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