When it comes to modern puzzle games of the match-3 variety, we might look back on Bejeweled (Free) as one of the most influential of its generation considering that countless games including Candy Crush Saga (Free) have been inspired by its core gameplay. But fewer games have taken from Magical Drop, with pulling blocks/gems/whatever MacGuffin is appropriate and then shooting them back up. I suppose there’s Linkoidz ($2.99), but the game didn’t make Retro Dreamer rich. Maybe if they made Happy Poo’s Linkoidz instead. Well, the concept is still a proven one, and someone’s got to pull it off at some point. So why not Simpulls? We initially previewed it at GDC:
And it’s finally releasing this week, on November 5th. The block pulling and shooting works well, and the game uses a simpler version of the Candy Crush monetization, where the game is free and there are lives for failing, but you can only really watch ads or wait to get more, as opposed to paying for more. The game isn’t exactly the prettiest game, but if you haven’t played with the whole Magical Drop concept, it’s worth toying around with as it is fun, and the game works well as a one-handed casual puzzler. Keep an eye out for it this week.
