Probably everyone who has ever worked at a computer knows well that small and simple shareware games. It is even possible that some of the readers of our site were addicted to such legends as Zuma or Plants vs. Zombies. Most often, playing them, you do not need to think, they help to relax and distract from the routine for a while. Now that the iPhone and iPod touch have taken shape as well as gaming platforms, such "addictive" toys can always be carried with you. One of them, Diamonds Mania, is a combination of time-tested traditions and interesting innovations that are worth paying attention to.
Each level of the game begins with multicolored (presumably precious) crystals appearing on the screen. If two (or more) identical crystals are added to one more, they will disappear. The task is that there is not a single crystal left on the playing field.
The principle is a bit like an old Lines toy, where you also need to remove elements (in this case, balls) of the same color. But if only straight lines could disappear in Lines, then in Diamonds Mania the player can also remove broken ones, the main thing is that every 2 crystals from this line connect in a straight line with each other, and not diagonally.
On the other hand, I recall the newer console Lumines, in which the player added additional elements from above, as in Tetris. In Diamonds Mania, additional crystals are added from all four sides, along the grid, and only along those lines in the cells of which there are already at least some others. By the way, the last few stones added can be canceled if the player changes his mind.
Such strict restrictions are often diluted by "bonus" game objects falling out here and there, such as those that blow up 3 cells around themselves or, for example, can become any color.
There are also 3 game modes:
Having formulated the rules of the game in this way, the developers set the player the task of how to remove all the crystals from the field without adding new superfluous ones there (and sometimes this turns out to be a necessary measure). This combination of gameplay moves allowed them to create a kind of new quintessence, which will surely give rise to a whole direction.
The game is quite original, so it is difficult to look for disadvantages in it. Except, on the technical side. The developers did not bother to support any other languages other than English, and there is no system of in-game hints, which begs for it. If you work a little more on simple graphics, adding special effects, as, for example, in Aurora Feint, then you can't find fault with the toy at all.
You can buy Diamonds Mania in the App Store catalog.
Game cost: $1.99.
Language: English.
Attention: The developers of the Diamonds Mania game have provided Macradar readers with 9 free codes. The first three commentators will receive the code ragantirovanno. Another 6 codes will be played among the other readers who will comment on this note. A random number generator will help me choose the winners. Comments are accepted until the end of Tuesday (23.59, Moscow time). Go ahead :-)
Update. Here are the names of the winners: Danches, Alexey, rasweb, Daga, h8hope, dimos, Njordy, Zyoop, Alex. Friends. check your mailboxes
