Arkedo Series: 02 - Swap

Arkedo Series: 02 – Swap is the second game in the trilogy of retro mini-games for modern consoles. This time around, the goal is helping King Kat reach his castle with a simple match-4 puzzle mechanic. By swapping blocks around, players need to align 4 or more of the same colored blocks to make them disappear in the ever-growing vertical stack of cubes.

Check out the 3 games from the Arkedo Series here.

The very colorful puzzler uses heavy cel-shaded outlines and simple, vibrant colors in its cutesy presentation. A short campaign of 5 levels, takes the player through a short story from King Kat and his insinuated alcoholism. Along the way, players will get told the workings of the game, such as powerup items, treasure blocks for extra points and working with combos. But as there is a hints screen with all hints in them from the start, it’s unnecessary to wait for the game to dish out the goods. However, as the chapters progress, the game becomes gradually harder, from fairly easy to a sizable challenge; though it isn’t too hard. A generic soundtrack, resembling the tune from Charlie Brown, completes the simplicity of the game, for casual puzzling fun.

My experience with the game: GET TO THE GOAL ALREADY, KITTY!

It can get hectic at times to juggle with the controls, which uses one stick for movement and the other for swapping, but it’s not troublesome; just odd. If anything, it helps keep the excitement going in the game, because in the Story mode, completing the goal can take a while. Luckily, items like lightning blocks can help get a big score quickly. These cubes create an explosion when matched and the bigger the chain, the larger the explosion and the more points get acquired.  Additionally, chaining larger strings together or blasting with combos also add much more points than a simple match-4, so it pays off to sort blocks. And lastly, time can also be stopped by aligning clocks, giving more time to sort out stuff before a high column ultimately destroys the play board.

Aside from the Story, there is also an eternal Arcade mode, where players can stack until death ensues or a Challenge mode with a set of different goals. Again, this Challenge mode needs to be unlocked through play, which is detrimental to a game’s worth, but at least the Story mode isn’t punishingly difficult. A good hour, maybe two will do for most cats. The challenge mode offers a wide set of variety, though some seem to be broken or do not trigger upon completing what is demanded from them.

Starting with a Terrific move? I smell something fishy. Settle down, King Kat!

In all, Arkedo Series: 02 – Swap is a fun little puzzler to casually waste some time on, no more and no less. The bright colors and simple match mechanics offer enough variety to keep going. And though it doesn’t really excel as a mini-game, it offers enough to warrant the very small price for puzzlers and casual players with a sense of challenge alike.

Gallery (+wallpaper)

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)