Candy Crush Saga Facebook Game Review

There are currently over 80 levels of gameplay and several different goals: one is to simply reach a certain score in a given amount of time. One is to clear all candies in a wrapper before time runs out. One is to drop certain items to the bottom of the screen. The more diverse goals are introduced after quite a few levels, so for me it was difficult to maintain patience with the somewhat stale concept.

Despite the different goals and special widget candies in Candy Crush Saga, the game is exceptionally difficult to get into because it doesn’t offer much more than your average “Match 3” game like Bejeweled. The graphics are cutesy, but they are also somewhat crude and bright and can seem quite jarring.

Of course, there are multiple add-ons and extra “special” candies and excess goals meant to make the game more interesting. But they’re worked in so clumsily that they only seem to make the game confusing. Most of the time when I came upon an extra special combo which resulted in half of my candies exploding, I didn’t really know how I had made it happen – which, in a game that boasts itself as a strategy game, is not really wise. Between a slightly disturbing voice occasionally declaring “Tasty!” or “Sugar crush!” or the random coloured candy fish swimming across the screen to eat my candy, I’ve never felt more overwhelmed by such a simple game.

The plus side of Candy Crush Saga is that you are not required to shell out credits at the rate that you are with other games, and your lives replenish themselves after only half an hour, so there is basically unlimited play. There is no significant social aspect to the game either – a deterrent for some, but for me it was a bonus. Games like Candy Crush Saga aren’t meant to be played with others – though perhaps working in a time challenge component would be good to increase options for more social gamers.

The game also has a pretty active hint system, which some may find irritating, but it never hurts to have hints in games like these. Though it’s not likely to be anyone’s brand new, highly addictive favourite, it is still a fun game for casual play.

One aspect of originality that Candy Crush Saga can boast is that the game boards are not strictly square or rectangular. Many have differently-shaped edges or pieces missing, which adds to the challenge. This means that in order to win Candy Crush Saga, it’s not just about arbitrarily finding candy matches.

With a time limit in place, it’s about finding the right matches. Observing the game board and how candies shift around the irregular corners after the first few moves will help you understand how the moves will affect the rest of the board as you go on.

You can rely solely on skills, or you can buy various boosters to help you out – but those boosters are costly, and it’s fairly easy to win on your own skills, considering the somewhat over-active hint system. The boosters also aren’t very clearly explained by the game. Building skill in the game is essential in order to not rely on these relatively disruptive power-ups when there’s a decent amount of random “special” candies already scattered about the game boards.

More often than not there’s not only a time limit but a limit on the moves a player can make, so it’s crucial to not take too long to get the hang of each game board. Because they’re introduced so randomly without much explanation, it’s hard to figure out what all the extra little candies are for, but it’s almost always guaranteed to work out in one’s favour to play those candies when you see them. The special candies often work by eliminating all of one type of candy or one entire row or column at a time – especially useful in the standard “make x matches in x minutes” levels.

Overall it’s a very easy game to win – though maybe not the easiest to do exceptionally in – which is what makes it a bit tedious.

Like most Facebook games, as Candy Crush Saga goes up a level it gets harder to win.

One of the game formats is a “jelly level.” Jelly levels feature squares covered in layers of “jelly” – some of which take one match to remove, and some of which take two matches to remove. There is no time limit on jelly levels, but there is a move limit. Jelly levels also contain stone squares, which cannot be moved, but can be cleared when players make moves next to them. Because of the limited moves, it’s wisest to try to kill two birds with one stone – clear the jelly squares next to stone squares in just one move.

It’s by far the most interesting type of gameplay in Candy Crush.

Ingredient levels also present an additional challenge; you have to get “ingredients” (such as cherries) to the bottom of the game board. Both the ingredient levels and the jelly levels do not have a time limit, just a move limit, so taking one’s time is an absolute must.

If you plan poorly, you use a life and may eventually have to wait for your credits to get back up. It’s always important to seek out combos of more than three candies, because you will always be greatly rewarded with crazy special candies. It took me awhile to figure out where some of the little “explosions” came from, but it all depends on which candies you involve in your combos.

For example, mixing in a blue candy fish with your blue candies in a combo will cause the swimming school of candy fish to venture across the screen and eat random candies. The better the combo, the better the candy you will get. Some will clear an entire row at a time. Some will cause multiple explosions. Some will clear an entire row, an entire column, and then clear every candy of a certain colour.

It’s a slightly frantic process getting used to which candies do what, but it’s worth it in the end – these candies are usually what saves the player, regardless of what type of level they are playing. It’s a useful strategy, not unlike the strategies for every other “match 3” game out there – make your T-shape combos, make your L-shape combos, match 4, match 5.

Ultimately, Candy Crush Saga is made pretty easy to win with enough practice.