If you’re a fan match-three games like Bejeweled, you won’t want to miss these great games available on the iPhone that take full advantage of the touchscreen. They each offer unique and addictive gameplay that will provide hours of entertainment.
1. Bubble Bust! by GameOn
This match-three game uses some aspects of brick breaking games to make a fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping bubble shooter that’s hard to put down. The controls are incredibly simple — you just tap the screen where you want the marble to go. The object of the game is to group up marbles of the same color to make them pop, and eventually reach the key (floating in a bubble) at the end of the level. The game starts off simple, but gets gradually more more intense and challenging. You’ll be introduced to color-changing marbles, rainbow marbles, multiplying marbles and even exploding marbles. The game is made up of three different worlds, Bust That Bubble, Shooting Stars, and Struck by Lightning. Each world offers new marbles (such as the Black Widow) and game mechanics (like meteors) so it never gets boring Full Match Replay. You may find yourself immersed in the Bubble Bust universe for hours without even realizing it! This is a game that’s hard to put down once you start playing.
**Tip: The Black Widow marble can’t be matched with any colors. But it can be destroyed in other ways. Try changing its color, blowing it up, or even using it to stop a meteor from falling!
2. Birzzle Pandora by Enfeel Inc.
Birzzle Pandora features cute and cuddly square birds that need to be matched in groups of three or more of the same color. There are three three different modes to play through: Classic, Pandora, and Ice Break. Classic is endless mode. Birds drop in rows of of seven and you need to destroy them to keep them from filling up the screen. You can moves them any which way around the board. As long as there’s an opening somewhere around a bird, you can grab it and place, slide or throw it wherever you’d like. It starts off easy, but as you progress to higher levels, the birds fall faster, more types of birds are added, and even unmovable locked birds get thrown in the mix. In order to get the best scores, you need to make the biggest groups of birds. If you match four birds of a color, they will transform into one glowing bird that will explode when matched with more birds of the same color. Five birds make a flaming phoenix, six make a lightning bird, and seven makes a wormhole bird that clears all the birds on the board. Classic mode is endless, so you can keep playing the same game as long as your skills permit! Pandora mode connects through Facebook so you can compete with your friends. Instead of being endless, you have a two-minute timer in which to get as many points as you can. You can also earn coins, which can be used to buy power-ups like extra time or wormholes. Ice Break mode, which is unlocked after reaching level 20 in Classic, is like a whole new game on its own. Instead of a whole row of birds dropping, there’s one bird at the top and you control where it goes. Once it hits the ice at the bottom, it freezes along with the other birds down there. You can’t move the birds in the mode. Instead, you have to match them up to break the ice. You have a 1-minute timer, but you get extra time when you clear a wave or break ice-covered power-ups. This is a fast-paced and challenging mode which can offer a change from the Classic mode if you grow tired of it. Between these three polished games modes, the game should provide you with plenty of entertainment.
**Tip: Try saving your powered-up birds for when you’re in a tight spot, to help clear a lot of birds in a flash. Don’t simply set them off the second you have the chance.
3. Linkoidz by Retro Dreamer
In Linkoidz, you are on a strange planet, where quirky little aliens are swarming in on you. Luckily, you’re armed with a large gun and a forcefield shield. But your shield can only handle a certain amount of weight. If it gets overloaded, it will break and the aliens will get you. Therefore, you need to destroy the aliens. The way you do this is by sucking any number of aliens of the same color into your gun. Then you shoot them out in a row and they’ll explode, along with any others of the same color that they end up touching. Sometimes you’ll encounter bosses or rocks that can only be destroyed by having other aliens explode next to them a number of times. The controls are weird at first but start to feel perfectly natural after only a few minutes. The game is fast-paced and challenging, with multiple areas and goals for each level. Once you beat story mode, there are even endless, zen (simply clear all the aliens) and sprint (on a timer) modes for each area. These extra modes should offer plenty of replay value. The game also features leader boards and achievements to keep you coming back for more. If you like a good challenge, give this game a go.
**Tip: While you can move one alien at a time, try sucking in several rows of them and injecting them where they could destroy the most aliens. If you encounter multiple bosses, try to I next the row of aliens between the bosses so you can explode them both at the same time. Kill two aliens with one stone!
If you’re a match-three or bubble shooter fan, you can’t really go wrong with these three games. They’ll each provide hours upon hours of entertainment and can be played in short bursts when you have a few minutes to kill, or you could get lost in them for hours.
