i-Play have been a big player in the mobile games industry for a while now, but, whilst they have released some Android titles, until now, Android didn’t really seem to be one of their main focuses. That is set to change this year with i-Play planning to ramp up production of Android titles. As part of this strategy, i-Play yesterday announced the release of Paradise Quest, a match the shape puzzle game.
Here’s the description of the game from i-Play’s press release:-
The revolutionary Match-3 puzzle adventure that has captivated 5 million online players is now available with exclusive features for your Android phone!
A PUZZLE WITH A REVOLUTIONARY TWIST! An exciting take on the ever-popular Match-3 puzzle genre: each match you make moves you smoothly across the puzzle board. Explore the map to find special items and complete your mission through dozens of addicting levels!
AN EXCITING TROPICAL ADVENTURE Play as renowned ecologist Dr Evan Finch to restore the majestic island of Isabela to its former beauty. Collect natural resources to revive lush vegetation, restore a mighty animal kingdom, and uncover the ancient artifacts of a lost Galapagos civilization.
TOP-NOTCH PRODUCTION VALUES Marvel at the lush beauty of tropical environments and wonderful creatures of the Galapagos. Enjoy brilliantly colorful graphics, enchanting sound effects and dazzling animations!
Paradise Quest revolves around a series of patterned tiles laid out on a board of 
varying shapes and sizes. Any given patterned tile can be swapped with it’s immediate neighbour horizontally or vertically and tiles are removed by creating rows of 3 or more matching tiles. The overall objective is to free some objects which are surrounded by stone. The stone sections are broken by matching the tiles which sit on top of them, when all of the surrounding stone is gone, the object is freed. When all of the objects are freed, you complete the level. It’s definitely not a new idea, but i-Play have introduced a couple of novel twists. To begin with, the various tiles on the board represent different resources, such as fruit, wood etc. You collect these resources as you play and can use them to purchase upgrades. There are also a number of power ups and surprise objects hidden under certain tiles, some of which (for example, a raft) are needed to bypass specific barriers on the board. These all add an interesting and welcome twist on what is otherwise an all too common shape matching theme.
Graphically, the game looks great. It’s a polished and professional looking game with bright, colourful screens and plenty of eye candy. There’s also a suitably adventurous theme drumming away in the background. Performance-wise, I did find that the game lagged a little on occasion during play, but not often enough to spoil things.
Gameplay was straight-forward enough. If you’ve played any of the countless thousands of colour or pattern matching games before, you should get to grips with play pretty quickly. If, however, you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, you’ll be happy to note that there are in-game tutorial tips which pop up as you play (you can turn them off via the options if they begin to grate on your nerves). The only real criticism I have of the game is a bit of a personal bugbear of mine and has nothing at all to do with the game, and that is – the plot. Why is there one? This is a match the shape game, why do I need an obviously shoe-horned in plot? It’s not as if it’s going to add any realism to the game, I don’t recall the last time I had to match shapes to acheive anything in my day to day life, so why pretend that Professor Whatsisface needs to do so to help save the environment? Who actually considers the plot whilst they’re playing a puzzle game? Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Overall, this is a pretty decent casual game. If you’re the sort of person who really digs relaxed puzzle games, then this will be right up your street. Whilst I can’t pretend that this game is my cup of tea, I can see that it has a lot going for it that would appeal to the casual gamer.
Paradise Quest is available for $1.99 in two formats an SD one for users of devices which have a screen size of 240 x 320 (such as the Tattoo), or an HD version which is for devices with screens of 320 x 480 or greater (such as the G1, Hero, Nexus One, DROID, etc). Unusually for a paid title, there doesn’t seem to be a trial or lite version of the game.
