Cell Kingdom
Manipulate cells and bacteria to your liking in this shiny match-3 game. As you play scientist, get three of the same cells adjacent to each other to form a higher grade cell. Trap pesky bacteria to stop their roaming, and complete level goals to move on. Don't forget to try the shop if you get stuck!
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Call me simple minded, but I do not understand this game.
oh, my gosh--me TOO!! I don't get it, either, and I'm an intelligent person! I want to give it another try to see if I'm missing something obvious. Maybe I'm just tired?
It makes sense if it works! So I did understand it the first time until some glitch (probably on my end since my laptop's been acting up today) wouldn't let me place some of the pcs. It really is just a match 3 game: not complicated at all.
I have to admit, I really don't get this game either. It's not that it's complicated, it's just that it doesn't seem to make much sense.
The last piece played is where the new merged piece ends up, makes things really hard.
I know the in-game tutorial was awful. I did my best to explain the gameplay in the review. Sorry if it was still unclear!
Nice and complex. I finally quit at the level where I need three reds. If only the cloning thing was cheaper, I think I could pull it off.
I figure if I have 8 clones available (hahahahahaha, as if) then I just need to get one green, and then I can clone greens to make the three reds I need.
It took me a few too many times to realize that
it won't allow cloning the final goal item. The clone didn't work, and then I just clicked (playing a white) and then stupidly tried the clone again, getting another white. I don't mind that happening once, but I think I did it three times. DUH!
I enjoyed figuring out the rules. I had almost given up on how the bacteria works, and then I read the intro more carefully. I don't think I would have figured that out on my own.
Whew!
Taking a break from playing to post some thoughts.
First, I really, really wish designers would not include a "relaxed" or "casual" mode that requires beating the "regular" game first to unlock. Perhaps this is done out of a lack of understanding of who plays no-stress game modes, or why. Regardless, it's frustrating. Have your "story" mode (or whatever it's called) unlock more-challenging material, not the other way around.
Second, I wouldn't classify this game -- other than completely technically -- as a match-3 game. It's rather more like... what chess is to checkers, Cell Kingdom is to go. And the eventual need, in higher levels, to think ahead exponentially more moves to reach more complex goals gives the game a difficulty curve unique in my experience.
The complexity curve, at least for me, puts this into the not-when-I-have-a-headache category of games, and also not-when-I'm-tired category. For a puzzle that really makes the gray matter work, though, this is one of the more interesting games I've played. That casual (free play?) mode may well give it full replayability, too, as opposed to many challenging puzzle games that have only one unique solution (or even a handful) per puzzle and need to be put aside long enough for the answers to be forgotten to have much replay value.
(Thus far I've played only the Browser / Flash version.)
Update