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With this next title, Green Sauce Games would like to send you on an archeologically expedition to Egypt.  Entitled Ancient Relics - Egypt, this is a Match 3  adventure type game that sets you the task of putting right the damage caused by the husband and wife team of Robert and Linda.  This pair disturbed the tomb of an ancient Pharaoh and let loose an evil spirit that set about doing its worst.  By working your way through 100 levels of Match 3 game play, you can undo the damage caused by the Pharaoh's curse.

The usual array of features can be applied to the gaming  environment.  Profiles can be created, volume levels adjusted for music and sound effects including the voice dialogue used during the game which can be viewed in full screen mode with a custom cursor.  An optional tutorial is available plus the occasional appearance of an on-screen Hint feature as to a possible move.  When playing the game you have a choice of three playing modes as you select from Relaxed, Timed or Move limited play with a further choice of Casual or Expert difficulty offering fewer obstacles and more power-up or more obstacles and fewer power-ups.

Following a series of static story book style scenes and spoken narrative, during which an evil demon destroys a village, Match 3 action kicks in as you need to set about rebuilding the village.  This task, or should I say tasks as several buildings need to be constructed, has to be carried out in set stages.  As the location for carrying out the work is a desert, your starting point must be the building of a well.

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First you need to acquire the appropriate Blueprint for the item under construction.  The Blueprint can only be located within a Match 3 grid by directing a Indiana Jones style hat along a path.  You need to clear away tiles from the path so that the hat can travel.  This can be achieved by creating groups of three similar tiles by swapping two adjacent tiles or using available power-up tools.

Once in possession of a Blueprint for the construction, you can move on to the building stage which again involves Match 3 game play but more concerns with a grid clearance rather than a path.  Each grid will be populated by a variety of embellished tiles, some of which are moveable while other will need to be destroyed in order to clear the way.  To assist you in this task, a grid will feature some power-ups in the form of sticks of dynamite, bombs and explosive kegs pus an occasional cannon which is fired by using an explosive device.

While these features are all located within the grid, you are also provided with other power-ups which appear along the right side of the grid and need charging.  These power-ups have the ability to remove tokens, obstacles and shuffle the grid's content depending upon which one is used.

Repairing the damage caused by the evil spirit will need to be carried out in a specific order.  As you make progress you will need to collected the Blueprint for stone quarry, houses for the villages, library, dromedary stable, pottery house or a great wall for protection against outside attacks.  Each of these buildings will need to be paid for by money earned by completing several Match 3 grids for each one.  The buildings will then appear as 3D constructions in a portion of the desert with a float-around inspection view which can be halted by a mouse click.  You then move on to the next Blueprint.

In many cases the Match 3 action on a particular level will consist of a single grid.  But this is not always the case.  Sometimes the grid will contain a key which will need to be guided to the base of the grid from where it can be collected and used to unlock a separate linked grid.  In some cases you might need a pair of keys to unlocked different padlocks.

Once into the pattern of switching between the Blueprint and building resource Match 3 action, this is an enjoyable game.  It does have one slight problem which I found rather annoying.  Before tackling each level or change of action, the game brings up a title screen which makes you wait for a short period before continuing.  It may have been for only 30 seconds or so but with 100 levels it does add up.  Apart from this one criticism, I enjoyed playing the game and look forward to further follow-up titles.

Downloadable from Gamehouse.com, where it is priced at $9.99, the game requires a 2.0 GHz processor with 2048MB of RAM and 326MB of hard disk space running Windows 7 and later.

Ancient Relics - Egypt | GameHouse