Please post your REVIEWS for Caves And Castles: Underworld here.

A thread for your reviews.

Rather different from other match 3s. If there were better help explaining the mechanisms--coins, "essence", exactly what one can pick up in the tunnels, etc.--I might buy it. But I dislike being hazy about what's going on.

This is indeed different from other M3s and I find it rather intriguing but I too am not sure about how things work and what exactly the essence is for. Without any clear instructions, I'm on the fence about purchasing this game.

It's true, the explanations for the bonuses and skills are slim to none, but once you figure them out, it's a fun game. Basically you play several small Match 3 levels, with the goal of making matches next to the stone blocks to clear the path. The final M3 game in the level requires you to drop keys off the board to open the door to the next level.

The tiles you match will fill the Essence resources, and allows you to use Skill based bonuses, such as a Dragon that shoots flames at tiles to remove them, Swap skills to swap tiles, skills that remove an entire section etc. The coins earned behind some tiles and also collected in Treasure Chests or along some paths, are used to fulfil Quests above ground.

You can earn Bonuses on the board by making large matches or matching the same colored tiles back to back. The mirror bonus allows you to push it onto an adjacent tile to "mirror" that tile, which is really cool, because you can exchange the mirror for another bomb for example and get two bombs in return, or swap it for a tile that will set up a M3!

Thank you pennmom36 for the game info...appreciate it...looks like a buy for me now that I get the gist of how things work

I like the concept of the game but for me I need the challenge of either time or a number of moves. If this choice had been available this would have been a buy for me.

This game seems rather pointless.

No sale.

I liked this game its different. I don't bother to using the essense during the match 3, there is no time limit for most of the games. So matching until the level is completed is doable.

There are match 3 levels where there is somethin along the lines of time limit. You have to match very fast - to fill the counter vial thing at the bottom. The best way to do this -- is to try to match 4s and 5s this creates bonus which fill the vial faster.

Points are converted into coins which you need to build things.

Last but not least in the upper right there is something that looks like a counter starting at 2:00. When that his done you can click on it and get more essense.

I haven't seen a game like this in a very long time, maybe ten years or more. Old fashioned graphics, bad sound effects (same wind noise repeated over and over), no map for the longer levels, lack of increasing difficulty as you go up in levels, and little to no explanation of what to do. And even with all of this, I find the game fun and relaxing. I like it, and feel nostalgic.

moonryu wrote:I liked this game its different. I don't bother to using the essense during the match 3, there is no time limit for most of the games. So matching until the level is completed is doable.

There are match 3 levels where there is somethin along the lines of time limit. You have to match very fast - to fill the counter vial thing at the bottom. The best way to do this -- is to try to match 4s and 5s this creates bonus which fill the vial faster.

Points are converted into coins which you need to build things.

Last but not least in the upper right there is something that looks like a counter starting at 2:00. When that his done you can click on it and get more essense.

I wasn't aware of the essence tip you mentioned, Thanks for the tip

zahorb wrote:I haven't seen a game like this in a very long time, maybe ten years or more. Old fashioned graphics, bad sound effects (same wind noise repeated over and over), no map for the longer levels, lack of increasing difficulty as you go up in levels, and little to no explanation of what to do. And even with all of this, I find the game fun and relaxing. I like it, and feel nostalgic.

that's funny, but it's true, something about this game that draws you in, so simplistic, so yesterday...when all my troubles seemed so far away....

I was really enjoying the game however, I bought it one day and by the next day, it was done!! The End! And towards the end, it started repeating cave levels. I was playing it and said to myself...I already did this level. I'm glad I used a free credit on this, because it isn't worth the money to buy it. WAY TOO SHORT!!!

Finaly post for me on this game.

I finished it and it was a lot of fun. Old style yes, with a few twists. Fun and not totally frustrating like some other games are.

But as noted -- too Short!!

Looking forward to a possible sequel.

pennmom36 wrote:

It's true, the explanations for the bonuses and skills are slim to none, but once you figure them out, it's a fun game. Basically you play several small Match 3 levels, with the goal of making matches next to the stone blocks to clear the path. The final M3 game in the level requires you to drop keys off the board to open the door to the next level.

The tiles you match will fill the Essence resources, and allows you to use Skill based bonuses, such as a Dragon that shoots flames at tiles to remove them, Swap skills to swap tiles, skills that remove an entire section etc. The coins earned behind some tiles and also collected in Treasure Chests or along some paths, are used to fulfil Quests above ground.

You can earn Bonuses on the board by making large matches or matching the same colored tiles back to back. The mirror bonus allows you to push it onto an adjacent tile to "mirror" that tile, which is really cool, because you can exchange the mirror for another bomb for example and get two bombs in return, or swap it for a tile that will set up a M3!

Also, there are some water obstacles that require you to clear aqua blocks under match 3 tiles. So you have 3 Match 3 variations - the regular ones to remove blocks, the water ones and the dropping the keys off the grid ones.

To me, this combines the cute graphics of arcade-style games (which my older reflexes can't keep up with) with Match 3 play. It's short and not hard, a relaxing little game I expect I will replay from time to time. The cons are the lack of clear explanations for the skills (but I tend to ignore those anyway) and the lack of personalization of upgrades - I prefer the games where you can at least choose from a set of upgrades. In this, you click the challenge button and the work is done while you wait. As far as the essence usage goes, since I don't use the skills unless absolutely necessary and there's no real reason to trade essence for coins in such a short game, I only found one level that required me to use essences to purchase the speed up skill/bonus. One of the later levels had a goal that required using the speed bonus 4 times, I believe, although I never saw a reason for it - but I had to use that 4 times before the last door unlocked.

This game is both somewhat compulsive and gentle, in that it is becoming a game for those times when Relaxing is my goal...

Thus... in the middle of my second game... i am finding deeper levels of what can be identified as a (sort of) Meditation.

So many games want one to go as fast as possible, including accuracy and rhythm...it is easy to forget to slow down, enjoy the scenery, the Journey.

Would love to see Volume 2 for this one... more intricate mazes, for example...

Thanks for this one!

i lasted 5 mins, awful game