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REVIEWMost of the time Art Stories is a pretty standard match-three puzzle game in the vein Jewel Quest. Players have to clear colored orbs from grids of varying shapes and sizes by swapping pairs to make horizontal or vertical rows of three or more like-colored spheres. It’s entertaining enough, but it’s also very been-there-done-that. However, it still manages to stand out from the crowd by virtue of its frequent “art” levels, which add a unique secondary challenge that, though executed a bit sloppily, ends up being both fresh and fun.
But let’s talk about the matching first.
In the standard levels, many of the tiles within the grid are locked by “plates” that require a series of as many as five matches to break. You can do this simply by making one match of three after another, but this takes a long time and you probably won’t end up meeting the minimum point requirement to clear the stage and move on to the next one.
A better idea is to look for matches of four or more. These create power-up orbs which, when matched one more time, become active, allowing the player to click on them at will to unleash powerful attacks on the grid. Examples include a waterfall that clears a few vertical rows, a paint can that eliminates all orbs of a given color, and a series of electrical impulses that eliminate multiple orbs at random. They not only help you clear stages more quickly, but also result in huge point bonuses—especially if you save up a few and click them one after another, causing action packed chain reactions. Read more...
