Fuzzy Critters
by Aethyna
Jun 8, 2018 |
1
Votes |
1
Played |
0
Reviews
10
rate
Genres:
Casual , PuzzleGraphics:
3DLabels:
Pet , Match 3Platforms:
Publishers:
PeopleCorp Gaming For a truly challenging and brain-teasing match-3 puzzle game, Fuzzy Critter is definitely a game you'd want to try. In addition to a host of unique obstacles, the game also features various equally-challenging game modes as well as a multiplayer mode for players who are more competitive. Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
If you find most match-3 puzzle games to be clones of one another, then you’ll definitely be pleasantly surprised by Fuzzy Critters. Granted that there are still plenty of familiar mechanics to make you feel comfortable, the game offers a whole new range of puzzles in which you’ll need to match keys up just to open locks and advance your pet along the pipe-slash-path. There are many different levels too, which some offering next-level challenges such as the tough boss stages.
So, if you enjoy match-3 puzzle games that will force you to strategize, plan ahead your moves, and generally think, Fuzzy Critters is one of the few rare games that really change things up.
Gameplay
To begin, you’ll need to first choose a pet to play as. The game doesn’t really provide you with a lot of choices, mainly because more varieties will be available for purchase later on, but at least you’ll get all the basic ones like cat and dog, along with slightly more special ones like a bunny and a rat. These pets are quite adorable, but I’m not a huge fan of the art style used here.
Like most match-3 games, you’ll need “currency” to play a level. Unlike most games that use “energy” or “lives”, you’ll need biscuits (or more specifically, cookies) to play in this game instead. Although you have a limited number of them, you actually can earn free biscuits as you cleared levels so you’ll end up finding yourself with more biscuits than you initially thought you have, and hence, you can play for a much longer period of time in a single session.
In terms of gameplay, Fuzzy Critters is ultimately still a match-3 game and as such, you’ll need to make matches of 3 or more keys of the same color. Each match-3 you make anywhere on the playing area will move your pet by one grid along the pipeline a.k.a. “the path”, but you can get it to move more steps simply by making matches of 4 (2 steps) or 5 (3 steps).
Match-5s will also earn you a dynamite which you can then detonate to clear its surrounding keys. Unfortunately, since detonating the dynamite is not a “match” per se, your pet won’t take a step forward. The same goes for matches that you get from the cascading effects – no bonus moves are awarded for cascade-fueled matches.
As you might have guessed by now, the goal of every level you play is to make your pet move along the pipe/path to the very end within the limited number of moves you are given. However, the game does throw some obstacles your way to try to knock you off your game.
One of the earliest obstacle you’ll encounter is padlocks. Padlocks are basically obstacles that will require you to collect a specific number of a specifically colored key… well, you actually need to collect 3 types of them before you can unlock the lock and proceed to the end. Think this is tough? Well, wait until you encounter the unstable mole holes. That’s another challenge that will require some planning ahead.
Aside from obstacles, the game has quite a variety of levels too. One such level is the Challenge mode where you are given extremely limited number of moves to complete the level. Every move really matters here and it pays off to really consider your plan before executing your moves. However, I find that the game oftentimes uses this type of levels as tutorials to introduce you to the game’s many power-ups. It’s a pretty neat, though not entirely unique, game design.
There are also the occasional bonus coin rounds where you’ll be given 60 seconds to collect as many coins by matching them up. However, all of these level modes pales in comparison to the most challenging mode of them all – boss levels.
In boss levels, your pet will be pursued by a predator/boss. The boss moves along the pipe as you do in the game, but it moves of its own accord and not in a turn-based manner. In other words, it is very possible for the boss to catch up to you, despite the head-start, if you get stuck in front of a lock that you can’t seem to open. This also means that you not only need to make your matches fast; you still have to make sure not to waste any of the moves you have.
That’s not all, in this mode, you’ll also have an obstacle/helpful tool called barriers. These are supposed to help you by hindering the boss for a while. However, barriers are compulsory to set up in this game – it would be better if it’s optional though - and I personally find that setting the barrier up can be quite the challenge.
The requirements of a barrier are somewhat similar to a padlock – you’ll need to make specifically-colored matches. However, unlike padlocks, you have to make the matches in the exact order (from left to right) as indicated… in a consecutive manner. The trick here is to set all 3 matches up in advance, which requires substantial planning ahead by the way, before you make those matches you need. It takes quite a bit of getting used to and even if you know what you should do, it can still be quite frustrating to get everything ready for the “consecutive matching” part, and that makes successfully clearing a boss level so much more satisfying.
Now, beside the single-player levels, Fuzzy Critters interestingly enough has a multiplayer mode called Duel. In this mode, you’ll compete with another player to see who can guide their pets to the end before the other. There are 2 types of Duels, one of which allows you to battle friends in Friendly Matches, while the other, Fuzzy Match mode, lets you battle with other players from around the world.
As the game can be quite challenging at times, you really need to know your power-ups. There is a total of 9 types in Fuzzy Critters and they all do different things to the board when used. For instance, the Coconut will break any single key that you drop it on while the Bamboo Cane will allow you to smash any row or column you want (it can be a bit tricky to use though). The skeleton key, on the other hand, will reduce the requirement of a padlock by 3 keys and the vacuum will suck all the gold coins on the board when used (best used in a bonus coin round).
Among all of these power-ups, the chameleon is perhaps the most helpful I’d say. By dragging and dropping it on a key with the color you want, you can get more keys of that same color. This power-up is very useful when you need a ton of keys of a certain color but the game doesn’t seem to want to give you any.
As Fuzzy Critters is a freemium game, you can spend real money here to buy premium currency, jade, which in turn will allow you to purchase more game coins (to buy more biscuits) or power-ups, or even to adopt a new pet to play as. Except the Trick boost that you can buy to give yourself an advantage in multiplayer matches, it’s a pretty fair system I’d say.
Community
The community in this game is unfortunately a bit on the lower end. Most of the players are more interested in the single-player aspect of the game rather than the multiplayer and thus, it can be quite difficult to find an opponent to play against in Fuzzy Match mode. Due to this, if you love competing with others, you might want to consider getting some friends to play the game with.
Graphics/ Sound
The overall graphics of the game looks good, but as I’ve mentioned, I’m not really a big fan of the art style used in the designs of the pets. That aside, I’d like to commend the developers on ensuring that the music is varied enough to be “not boring”. I particularly like the music that plays in the background during boss levels too. It’s really quirky and I like that!
Conclusion
With so many match-3 puzzle “clones” out there that don’t really bring anything new to the table out there, I can’t say that I was not pleasantly surprised by the level of ingenuity that went into the game design of Fuzzy Critters. Despite not being a fan of the art style (to each their own I guess), I find myself enjoying the challenge posed by the game, particularly the boss levels. It just different in a good way.
So, if you’re looking for a casual match-3, this might not be your cup of tea, but if you’re looking for an actually challenging match-3 puzzle (with a lot more emphasis on the “puzzle” part), then you’ll find Fuzzy Critters a satisfying game to play. The game is free on both Google Play and the AppStore.
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