Heroes of Kalevala

Hey everyone! I downloaded this game when it became available in App World, and I wasn't disappointed. It's from 10tons Ltd., the developers that brought us the Azkend games, Joining Hands and Sparkle. The main part of the game fits into the match 3 genre, with a light element from the village building genre.

Overall, the graphics are good, and the gameplay is what you would hope for in a match 3 game. What makes this game stand apart is the theme and story. From what I could tell, it's based on an old story, with god-like characters from a European mythology. This may be to the liking of some, but not to others, as it really affects the look of the game. The colours of the game draw mostly from earth tones, and some may find it a bit drab.

The match 3 aspect has you matching tiles to turn them all blue from a variety of original states that require different interactions. Some tiles simply require one or two matches to convert them, some tiles are chained, and require matches with the chained icon to unlock, some are stone or ice which require touching tiles to be matched to break before they can be converted, and some levels even have tar slowly spread, constantly limiting the tiles you can match and consuming the icons they spread to. Fortunately, as is the custom in this style of game, we are aided by objects that appear when we match 4 or 5 tiles. These bombs simply explode when moved, and convert the tiles within their radius. Also, at the beginning of each game, we are allowed to choose from a variety of unlocked heroes, who appear as icons to be matched in the game. Each affects the board in its own way, and having a preview of the board allows us to choose the hero we think will be most effective with the tile layout, and obstacle positioning.

The village building aspect is, as stated, light. By completing a board, we are rewarded with money based on how quickly we finished the level, how many tiles required conversion, and how many happy villagers live in our village. That money is to be spent on improving the village. In the end, however, despite a small selection of different housing, structures that provide changes to gameplay, and beautification objects (a certain amount of which is necessary to make the villagers happy), the highest coin reward comes simply from cramming as many houses as possible into the small landscape. No points for style, technique or aesthetics are available. If you're looking for a village builder, stick to Fantasy Islands. Kalevala simply provides the village aspect as a reason to keep playing and progressing.

The interesting parts of the village component are the effect objects. There are four villages, each of which can provide its own effect to a board. When you come to play a board, you can choose which village will apply its effect, and which god will provide its ability. Too much tar, select the village that slows the tar. Want more coins, select the village that replaces one icon type with coins. Rocks a nuisance, select the village that makes rocks brittle.

Picture legend:
1- Title screen
2- Village selection
3- Village building
4- God selection
5- One of many game board layouts
6, 7, 8- Gameplay, showing conversion, bombs, god branch effect, and level completion
9- Reward screen
10- Village progression screen

Edit: Wow, sorry everyone! Didn't realize the recent site changes would make the "thumbnails" appear so big. Not sure if there's a way of making them regular size.