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Puzzle Quest goes free-to-play, ruining what made the original match-3 RPGs great
Puzzle Quest 3 is finally here, too bad it stinks
The Puzzle Quest match-3 series started strong on the Nintendo DS and Playstation Portable in 2007. It's an enjoyable match-3 game that combines casual matching gameplay with RPG mechanics, with the game eventually finding its way to a multitude of platforms in the years following. With that success, a sequel was released on Android as well as consoles in 2010, but that Android version is now long gone, leaving fans hungry for a new title in the series.
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505 Games recently purchased the developer Infinity Plus Two, a studio that owned the rights to the Puzzle Quest match-3 series. This series started out in 2007 and is fondly remembered thanks to the fact it popularized RPG mechanics in match-3 games, adding depth to the genre, all while offering a fair price point. Of course, things have changed over the last 14 years, and now the match-3 genre is pretty much synonymous with awful monetization, especially on mobile. Well, 505 Games has just announced that it will bring Puzzle Quest 3 to mobile and PC later this year. Sadly we already know the developer plans to launch the title as a free-to-play release, so I wouldn't get my hopes up for this long-awaited follow-up since its stated direction is worrying.
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is the latest cash-grab from Zynga, now available on the Play Store
Just what everyone wanted, yet another money-grubbing match-3 game
Zynga has officially announced that it's working on a Harry Potter match-3 game for mobile. This game is called Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, and of course, Zynga has yet to share a single screenshot or video of the title. Paradoxically Zynga has noted that the game is already available as a soft-launch release in the Philippines, which means the studio is already publicly testing the title, which begs the question as to why there are zero screenshots or videos shared with today's announcement. Could it be that Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is such a shallow cash grab that it's in the developer's best interest to hide what the game looks like before an official worldwide release?
Back in June Nintendo announced that Dr. Mario World would be coming to Android on July 10th, so of course, the title has arrived a day early on both Android and iOS. It's a free-to-play release, which means you should be able to install it right now to start killing a few viruses, though the rollout doesn't appear to be available to everyone just yet, so you may have to wait a bit before you can jump in.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an amusing kart racing game with a Chuck E. Cheese theme, and adorable kawaii-themed falling object game, a Doctor Who match-3 puzzler that includes some fantastic storylines, a beautiful escape room game, the much awaited sequel to the hit word-based puzzle game Alphabear, a new idle game from PIKPOK, and an enjoyable cross-platform sidescrolling shooter. Without further ado:
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a space platformer, a digital board game, a tile-movement puzzler, a side-scrolling platformer, a match-3 dungeon crawler, a falling block puzzler, and a dinosaur-themed survival game. Without further ado:
I don't know why, but apparently every franchise out there just has to shoehorn its name onto a match-3 puzzle game. We get it, Candy Crush made a ton of money, but can we please move on from this tired genre already? Sadly, it would appear that Disney thinks not. In their latest attempt to cash in on the property they have released Star Wars: Puzzle Droids, a match-3 puzzle game.
Have you ever wanted a Family Guy themed game bereft of anything that originally made the show funny? Are you dying to play yet another in-app purchase laden match-3 puzzle game? Well, I have some great news for you. Jam City, Inc. in collaboration with FoxNext Games have just released Family Guy Freakin Mobile Game onto the Play Store and yes, it is just as bad as you would expect.
Here at Android Police, we monitor a truly insane amount of sites and developers to bring you the latest apps and games fresh from the Play Store. And in serving that duty, sometimes we come across games that don't deserve any attention. More often than not, in fact, and some of the most depressing are games that exploit a beloved TV, movie, or video game license and use it to try and sling the same homogenized crap as ten thousand copycat game developers looking for a quick buck. A lot of these seem to be Candy Crush or Bejeweled clones: we passed over Pac-Man Puzzle Tour just yesterday (Artem literally wrote "ughhhhhh" in the office chat), and Star Trek: Wrath of Gems is such a shameless cash-grab that it makes trekkies spit out their Romulan ale. Neither of these games made it to our bi-weekly game roundup, even in passing.
[Bonus Round] A Wise Use of Time, MicRogue, Random Fighters, Asciid, Puzzle Coaster, Fat Baby Galaxy, And Nibblers
A Wise Use of Time, MicRogue, Random Fighters, Asciid, Puzzle Coaster, Fat Baby Galaxy, And Nibblers
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a time-travelling game-book, a mix of roguelikes and board games, a match-three puzzler, an ASCII-inspired platformer, a physics-focused puzzle game, and another Rovio puzzle game. Without further ado:
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a collection of cute mini-games, a minimalist first-person shooter, a punishingly difficult puzzle game, a platformer-slash-match three title, a builder game that's all about the Benjamins, and a tie-in for League of Legends. Without further ado:
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a spaceship game about eating humans, a spaceship game about rescuing humans, a spaceship game about spinning around like drunk with an inner ear infection, and a match three puzzler.. Without further ado:
Godzilla is a giant, city-destroying monster that challenges us to ponder the fragility of life and the horrors of mass destruction. A 2014 adaptation is hitting theaters now, which means a movie tie-in game is destined to hit the Play Store. What do we have this time? A brawler? A first-person shooter? A side-scroller crammed with in-app purchases? No, silly. It's a match 3 puzzle game.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a platformer with classic sensibilities, a new take on the match three puzzle, an unbearably cute physics game, a dudebro version of Asteroids, and a math puzzler. Without further ado: