A review: Symbolism is an Alchemy clone (and a close one at that, using almost identical symbols, colors, and gameplay). This is a good thing. Symbolism is played on a board where you place tiles next to other tiles. A tile may only be placed next to a tile of the same symbol, or shape. When you successfully place tiles across an entire row or column, it disappears, leaving you with blank squares. If you can fill the entire board with blank squares or placed symbols, you win that level. If you discard too many pieces in a row, you lose. The original Alchemy came with one board, and added colors and symbols over time. Symbolism takes a good flash game and turns it into a fantastic iPhone game by keeping the same mechanics and adding multiple difficulty levels, timed mode, and a challenge mode where some tiles are already inconveniently placed for you, creating difficult situations you must emerge from. Symbolism is a highly cerebral game. The placement (or choice to discard) each tile can have significant consequences down the road. Poor choices - and sometimes, poor luck - can lead to disaster, as you face multiple squares surrounded by incompatible tiles. Thankfully, Symbolism slightly lessens the difficulty of the original Alchemy by allowing you to use points earned in your previous games to purchase items (like 'clear row' or 'clear square') to help you out of dire situations you run into. In effect, you get more powerful as you play and build up a healthy store of points with which to buy yourself some help. All in all, this is a fantastic game, and it's well worth your time. There aren't any puzzle games quite like it, and as far as I know, this is your only option for Alchemy on the iPhone. Thankfully, it's also a great option, and the additions are welcome newcomers to a great gameplay formula.
