Hello readers! I’m continuing my look at the strangest genre out there, VR Match 3 games! Hope you enjoyed learning about Gem Monster the other day as much as I enjoyed writing about it.
Today I’m going to take you on a magical journey through a VR Match 3 game known as Magical Journey!
This game comes in as one of the more expensive entries at $15, which when you think about it, really isn't all that expensive . . . on the other hand, mobile gamers who are inundated with match 3 games for free might find that a bit spendy, I guess?
This one is also a very traditional match 3 game and requires almost zero movement in a 3D space to play. I suppose if you have trouble with motion sickness, this is the VR game for you! The most you'll be doing for movement is turning around in a circle to view the environment around you.
Controls are also incredibly simple. Just grab a gem and move it up, down, left, or right to make a match of 3 runes or more.
At first I was a little nervous that I had just overpaid for a really lame match 3 VR game, but after working past the initial tutorial levels, what I found was all the interesting mechanics one would want from a match 3 game: special pieces you match next to, special board mechanics that make the game slightly different, and varied objectives to keep the game interesting.
I would be remiss to not give the music in this game a special mention. It has absolutely no business being as awesome as it is. After I'm done playing the 48 levels found in this game, I would want to come replay a few of them just to hear the music. Please understand that the higher price point on this game is worth it for the music alone. In the words of Larry David, “It’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty great.”
To sum up this game, it would be to say that there are four main environments with 12 levels each:
- The Magical Night environment
- The Halloween environment
- The Christmas environment
- The Volcano environment
I suppose you could call the Halloween environment a "spooky" environment, but the jack o lanterns and wandering tree stump character make it feel more Halloween. In the same breath, you could also call the Christmas environment the "winter" environment, but that would do no justice to the final Christmas Tree levels and snowman inside the winter environment.
Speaking of the Christmas Tree levels . . . the final board of each environment features a special, unique "boss" type mechanic that's the star of the show. The Halloween level has a spider that jumps up off of the board and slams back down in various locations and you need to make matches next to it to defeat it. The Christmas Tree levels has an actual Christmas tree in the environment that you decorate by making matches with ornaments that a snowman throws on to the board. When you make a match, the ornament floats over to the tree to decorate it. It's genius!
I want a VR Match 3 game where the philosophy of those two boss levels is carried throughout the ENTIRE game, not just the penultimate and final levels. Traditional match 3 is fine, but if you're in a VR space, USE the space like the Christmas Tree level.
Just a couple side notes:
1- Not necessarily game related, but what's up with the developer for this game? The name of the developer is, get this, "Techservice Center, LLC." Which I think is actually an IT recycling company? I don't know who I gave my $15 to, but it was well spent. I really wish I knew who it was that composed the music, because they did a great job with it.
2- Game related, I have no idea what 3-staring a level does for me . . . what I really hope is that there's an easter egg that unlocks more content if I 3-star all the levels, but I kind of doubt that is the case. Because of that, the 3-star mechanic makes no sense. There's no purpose to having this star rating system if it doesn't do anything.
All in all, if you like match 3 and VR, this is a great option . . . probably the best option out there, but I can't say that quite yet since I have several more VR Match 3 games to review!
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