Azkend -- Review

Category: adventure puzzle games
Price: 2.99 (introductory)
App Store Link: [Full] / No Lite

Review: Love it!
Replay Value: High
Recommendation: Azkend is an exceptional puzzler, breathing new life into the world of match-3 games. It incorporates a fun premise with great touch controls, unique power-ups, and hours of gameplay. If you're anything like us, you'll find this one hard to put down. I'd recommend this game to every match-3 fan (and just about anyone else)!

In adventure mode, Azkend begins with an intriguing story in an attempt to add some purpose to the game. Players take on the role of an Archaeologist on a journey to return an ancient artifact to the temple of time. The artifact, recently removed from its home has unleashed a terrible curse, and the only way to lift the curse is to make the long journey back to the temple on your own. Along the way, players reassemble broken talisman that, once unlocked, serve as helpful and devastating power-ups.

At the most basic level, gameplay consists of trying to solve a puzzle-board before time runs out... but there's so much more to it than that. To solve a board, players must activate every tile of the backdrop of the board. Tiles are activated when a match is made using an item resting on that tile. To make a match, players must make a chain of 3 or more items using touch controls; the selected items then disappear, the tiles activate, and new items slide down to take their place. To make the game more interesting, tiles can have special attributes such as being covered in tar, encased in ice, being locked, or requiring double activation. Once every tile has been activated, an artifact piece appears at the top of the game board, and players have to move it to the bottom by making matches below it (so it slides down). Onces players have retrieved the artifact piece, it's time to move to the next level.

In addition to these basics, there are several elements that aid layers of strategy to the game. Making smart moves can help players charge a lightening meter, which, when unleashed, activates random tiles (eventually, using this can be critical to activating hard to reach tiles). Players also unlock various talisman power-ups throughout their journey. At the beginning of each level, players can choose a talisman to help aid them in their quest, including the bomb, light, and avalanche talisman just to name a few . Different talisman can be useful on different levels depending on the shape of the game board.

In addition to the adventure mode, there's a fun survival mode thats fun for quick and casual play.

Overall the graphics, controls, gameplay and overall experience are superb. Anyone who thought match-based puzzle games were finished will be pleasantly surprised by Azkend. Once you pick up this app, you'll find it hard to put down--literally. Personally, I always found myself playing "Just one more level" until that "one more level" was 5 or 6 levels ago. I highly recommend this app to just about everyone! If you're interested, get it while it's at its introductory price of $2.99!

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Gameplay Video:

~M@