Now this was a pleasant surprise. The game’s title and box art didn’t tell me much about it so, “yes Arthur”, I went right to game’s description. That clarified a bit about “Candies vs Hypnodeer”‘s approach, but only a bit. It left me intriqued, though, so I soldiered on.
It turns out that the game is a match-3 puzzle game, but unlike any I’ve played. It reminded me more of a city building game (think an early rendition of SimCity, or Theme Park for that matter). You place buildings, and matching three or more clear them from the board (leaving a candy behind). These candies can then be grouped to be cleared from the board, leaving an upgraded candy, and so on. What building comes up next is random, but you can store one for later, and you can purchase specific buildings from the store (that you may need for matching to clear a particularly troublesome area.
Hypnodeer get in your way, prancing about the board as they are wont to do. You can drop buildings around them to trap them. Trapping two or fewer Hypnodeer is a negative, as they fall asleep and become obstacles, making it more difficult to clear the board. Trapping three or more is positive, and clears them from the board.
“Candies vs Hypnodeer” also has cross-platform leaderboards, bringing together Xbox, Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, and more. This is a truly innovative game that’s well worth a download.
Here’s what the developer (Shake Well Games Ltd) has to say about the game:
“Definitely the sweetest game you’ll have ever played! Build a kingdom out of candy, in a world made entirely of… candy! Match-3 game with a fresh twist on the genre. – Cross-platform competition via online highscores – Quality artwork – Engaging gameplay Grab the game & start building your candy empire. Make yourself a pleasure, get hypnotized and beat your friends highscores on-line!”
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