Smiles

Yet another matching game, I know, I know, the App Store has been flooded with matching games and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern the crap from the quality due to the sheer volume of matching games currently available in the App Store. But I’m here to say, if you are a fan of matching games, you’ll want to give Smiles a try, the game has a lot to offer and the level of polish shows just how much love the developer put into this game.

As I’ve mentioned before in the Fuzzle review, I’m no fan of matching games, but I do know when I see value and can tell the difference between a game that has been slapped together to make a quick buck and one that has been built with care.

Smiles is actually two games in one, Zen and Drop, there is also Avalanche which is a variation of Drop.

In Zen your goal is to match 3 or more pieces, horizontally or vertically, when matches are made the pieces light up, once all the pieces are lit up the game is finished.

Starting out you’ll have a piece under the current section, once you tap on another piece their positions will be swapped, the tapped piece will go under current and the current piece will be positioned where you tapped. So it helps to always look ahead a few steps as you are swapping pieces to make the most of your time.

Speaking of time, there isn’t a set amount of time, so players can play at their own pace. But for those of you who love scoring high, time will be a factor, the faster you complete the game the higher your score, but don’t feel bummed if you get stuck, with enough practice you’ll be playing Zen on autopilot, making move after move at a blistering rate.

In Drop when matches are made the pieces disappear and the pieces above fall down to fill the gap. How the iPhone is oriented will control which direction the pieces fall. This can be used strategically to maximize match combos. There is also iced pieces in Drop not found in Zen, these pieces cannot be swapped, the ice encasing can be shattered if the piece is dropped 4 spaces.

Avalanche is variant of Drop, all new pieces are encased in ice, the games won’t last nearly as long as they do in Drop, so choose your swaps wisely to last as long as possible.

Out of all the game modes in Smiles, Zen is my favorite, the name didn’t make much sense to me at first, but once you begin to master the game you’ll use less and less thought to make your moves, eventually reaching a Zen like state, playing the game in a nearly autonomous fashion. The game is quite relaxing, easy to pick up and play even in a work setting, playing in short burst to fill in those gaps of down time.

If you are a fan of matching games you’ll definitely want to pick up Smiles, its relaxing gameplay and fun graphics make it a real winner.

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