Matchstick Memories 12+

I'm so glad I downloaded this game. It blends relaxing, aesthetically lovely puzzles with a tragic/exciting story to make for a really unique and artistic experience.

I'm really impressed with the writing, and the gameplay is fun. It's fairly well varied; there are six or seven different but similar types of puzzles depending on the level/story/urgency, which makes for decent variety.

Some of the gameplay is a bit tedious, which is why I took a star off, but I've always come back and completed the levels I've lost patience for. There was one level/puzzle I played over and over and over without passing, and I think the game registered this and gave me an alternate puzzle to complete. I might be wrong though! Maybe I did beat it and didn't realize. But anyway, if the game *did* recognize my inability to complete a level and adjusted accordingly, I am enormously impressed!

A new, unique way to imagine a game in a genre that has produced so many dry and monotonous Candy Crush clones. The story is good, albeit difficult to follow at times. The full story unlock is placed at a good time so as to make the player have enough background of the game to want to continue. As for the gameplay, the variety of puzzles keeps the player engaged, but at certain points the player can get stuck to the point that the game becomes boring. A hint system or somewhat of an online walkthrough would be helpful to assist players in getting through the more tedious areas, especially Chapter 10. Finally, the sound effects are nicely done, but a bit of ambient music would be appreciated, as it gets a little dry at times listening to the same clicks and chimes. Overall, great game, but needs some work.

Having no discernible eye-hand coordination, I don't get much joy from timed mini games. We should have the ability to disable the timer. Seemed fun up until that point, though.