Candy In The Media

All this month on the Candy In The Media segment of the Candy Critic blog we're going to look at candy themed games for tablets.  All of the games will be tested on my Nexus 7 tablet running Android Kit Kat.  Keep in mind that I'm not really a gamer, so my past experience is pretty minimal.  I'll mainly be focusing on how easy it is to play, how it incorporates candy, and any tech issues that may come up.  We welcome your suggestions for games you think we should try out on future posts.

 

The first game we'll look at in this series is probably the most well known of all candy related tablet games out there right now Candy Crush Saga.  Many of us have either enjoyed this game, or been plagued by Facebook spam related to this game.  This is really the kind of game that if you're playing it, it's fun, but if your friends are playing it, it's a pain in the butt.

 The game itself is a fairly simple (and common) puzzle swipe game.  All you have to do is swipe the various candies around in order to line up 3 in a row.  Each level presents a different layout, as well as a different way to win.  In some cases you win by achieving a certain score, in other levels you have to "pop jellies", and so on.  There are also special candies that can be earned when you align the same candy into certain patterns.  For example, if you line up candies in a T formation (instead of just 3 in a row) you get a special bomb candy that destroys all the candies around it.  The instructions for the game are very straight forward, and the training levels are very clear.

Theme wise this came is pretty good.  The graphics are simple, and fun, I particularly like the fact that all the characters look like puppets.  The candy graphics themselves are really simple, but that's OK since most traditional candies are also fairly simple.  The music is a little annoying, but the sound effects are really great.  I can't really describe the sound effects, but I can say that they are very candy like.

The fault of this game ties directly into the reason many people will never even try to play this game.  If you fail at too many puzzles, eventually you run out of do overs, and you must then either wait a certain amount of time to try again, or get people to sign up for the game via social media.  This is why friends have sent you invites to play this game so much.  I think you can also buy do overs with real money as well.  I have to say that the fact that I can't just keep playing this game annoyed me to no end.  Even worse is the fact that one of the ways I can continue is to annoy my friends.  It's a fun game, great concept, but the music and the do over rules really got on my nerves.

CC