Dessert Storm
Score: 70% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Ensenasoft Developer: Ensenasoft Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Like your games to have titles that are puns based off the codewords for coalition military operations? Then you may not need to read on, and Dessert Storm is probably the game for you already. The polka music from the intro is, well, polka music. Slightly mellower polka music accompanies the actual gameplay parts of the game. The typical bleeps and bloops you’d expect from a matching game are here in full effect. There’s an ice cream character that says things like "Uh Oh" when you lose a level. The look of the game doesn’t change much throughout the game. The background is blue, with blue mountains, and your CG ice cream guy is your constant companion, cheering you on throughout the game. The tiles you match are all sweets themed, with cakes, cookies, and ice cream cones making up the board. The only one I didn’t get was a little demon looking tile. I guess that’s supposed to be a little devil cookie, but I’m not sure. But yes, there’s a strong sweet theme that’s pretty obvious here.
Gameplay: Your standard tile matching game features show up in Dessert Storm. Gradually, the levels introduce new challenges, like locked tiles. You’ll have to match these tiles up in a combo to unlock them, then match them once more in order to get rid of them. They’ll block other tiles from falling as well, adding an extra challenge if you can’t get rid of them. Some levels have white backgrounds behind the tiles, and you’ll have to match tiles in front of them in order to clear the white background and beat the level. Dessert Storm has gameplay modes to add variety to the game. In Relax Mode, you can match away, not worrying about time limits. In Classic Mode, you’re trying to beat the level, usually just by clearing the white tile background. In Rush Mode, you have to match to survive, as the timer keeps counting down. If you don’t match to build up the timer, it runs out fast. The variety of gameplay modes makes Dessert Storm pretty easy to pick up and play anytime.
Difficulty: Dessert Storm doesn’t introduce a lot of elements that puzzle game fans aren’t already familiar with. If you’re up for a challenge, you can try Rush Mode. If you’d just like to think about your next move a bit more and try to clear the board with a strategy, you can go for Classic Mode. I’d say this game is much easier on a larger-sized tablet than it is on a smaller phone, for reasons I’ll explain later. Like most puzzle games of this type, Dessert Storm is about as tough or as easy as you make it, depending on how hard you’d like to push yourself to get 1, 2 or 3 stars on each level.
Game Mechanics: The tiles are impossible small in Dessert Storm, at least on my Samsung Galaxy S II. I felt a little afraid that I was going to aggravate some carpal tunnel symptoms if I kept playing for too long. I wish I could have tested with some sort of pen, but I didn’t have one available. Basically, I spent a lot of my time playing this game just trying to move the tiles. I’d pull one, and it would sit there, mocking me. I’d pull it again, and again. I’d say it took an average of 3 tries per tile to move them. I have played other very similar matching games on this phone with ease, so it’s not an issue with the size of the screen in general. Dessert Storm doesn’t stand out from the crowd of tile matching games. It is, however, a decent, relaxing puzzle game with a very basic reward system. If you need a bit of frosting and ice cream to go along with your puzzle matching experience, Dessert Storm will work for a while, at least. A demo is available, so it’s easy to give it a test run.
-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville
Related Links: Dessert Storm on Google Play
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