Slide N Loop Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

Another block matching puzzle game.

There are so many of these block matching puzzle games around that I forget the name of the game that I played before Slide N Loop which was very similar. I can't keep track and we have these types of games coming out of our ears [Block Matching games]. Not that Slide N Loop is a bad game, but you do get the sense that it's been done before. Which it kind of has.

You have to match 3 or more of a kind of symbols on a grid. You play the part of Zia, an Incan girl (I think) who is investigating a temple. Where's Esteban and Tao I wonder. Anyways, you can move around the edges of the grid using the key or D pad and when you press the main button or 5, the line of symbols will move along one space in the direction you pressed it. Sound familiar? Well, it pretty much is, up to there, but as the name suggests, you can slide around. When at the top of the grid, press down to slide right across to the bottom and vice versa. You can do this on the sides as well. I've no idea what the loop in the title means though.

Well, in order to make this a tad more interesting, the developers have added a few neat aspects of the game and a whole bunch of modes. First up is adventure mode where you play through 16 levels. At the end of each set of 4 levels, you face off against a boss creature. I forgot to mention you have a set number of symbols to clear. There's no time limit in the levels, but in the boss levels, any time the boss moves the grid and gets a match, this will be added to the score you have to clear. So you better work fast.

This brings to bear two aspects of the game, one where during normal levels you can take your time, move blocks to create combos and think things through. In the boss levels, the action is fast and frantic as you try to beat your boss to the position where you can get matches and combos. There's not a whole lot of time for thinking and you have to be pretty nifty with the keypad. Combos will temporarily paralyse the bosses, so it's best to get these if you can.

To make things more difficult, as you progress you have to clear more symbols, and you get some strange effects. For instance, any time you match 3 skulls, you will have one of the following effects. Either your directions will be reversed so you have to input the opposite command to move where you want (doesn't take too long to get used to), or you will go green and zombie like and you can only move left and right instead of sliding across the whole grid. Finally you can also get a giant mallet which allows you to whack the whole row or column and start it sliding. You choose where it stops by pressing the main button.

These effects don't last long enough to make the levels really difficult but they are a bit of a hindrance at times. Also a hindrance are the green gravestones in the later levels as if you combo these, they will turn into solid rock that can't be moved. Which means you have to work around them. This can be quite annoying, especially if you went for a standard combo, but ended up transforming them as well by mistake.

As you finish each segment, you unlock the other modes which are Chrono Mode (essentially time attack), Survival mode (where enemies attack Zia, get touched by them and you lose a life - some very strange totems and skeletons) and Fighting mode where you have to face off against a pirate as you do the bosses. I forgot to mention about the lives, you get 3 and for each move you do which isn't a match, you lose one. Never fear though, because as long as you match 3 before you lose your lives, you will replenish them all. That's right, so effectively you have three pushes to use before it's game over. This allows you to make some tactical moves on the harder later levels.

The graphics and sound are quite large, loud and cartoony and certainly looked decent on my K800i.

If you absolutely love puzzle games, you should definitely get this. Otherwise it's a nice little twist on the existing genre, but nothing that's really out of this world.