Today’s giveaway downloads as a 32.3Mb zip file that unpacks to two files; a read me that contains the terms and conditions as well as a registration code for the game. There’s also a set up file. If you copy the registration code to clipboard once you install the game you’ll see the registration code in the field provided. Click okay to activate the game. It installs to :
C:/Program Files (x86)/Lills for Vista and Win 7
or
C:/Program Files/Lills for XP
Introduction:
Somewhere lost in time and space, in the middle of nowhere live a tiny people known as the Lills. They live in lush green grass, rejoicing in the sun as blissful as children.
But without warning, the Dark Witch arrived and kidnapped their princess. Life as they know it has ended, so they must save their beloved Princess to restore harmony.
Reference accessed HERE on the 30th Oct 2010
The game:
This is a cute-ish match three with anime style graphics. The game play is the same as your standard match three where you create groups of three or more. As you remove blocks you collect magic powder that gathers to the right of the playing field. This is the spells resistance meter. The witches spells show as pink/violet and spells resistance as green. When the green part of the indicator grows you gain the advantage, and conversely when your green indicator shrinks the black witch gets stronger. You win when all of the black witches indicator is removed from the meter. The longer you take to complete the level the more the black witch grows in strength (that is, the violet/pink indicator grows bigger). The faster you remove blocks the more magic powder you will gain and therefore the faster your green indicator will grow and swamp the black witches indicator.
The spell force has x2, x3, x4, and x10 multipliers. The higher the multiplier, the faster the green indicator fills. If you create matches of four or more you are awarded a spell shield which decreases the advantage of the black witches spells (that is the violet/pink indicator shrinks). You start with three lives and can earn an extra life when your score reaches half a million points. Apart from the spell shield and life power ups there are three more called The Bubble which is awarded when you reach x10 multiplier. It instantly removes twelve blocks randomly from the playing arena . The points that you earn from the removal of these blocks is multiplied by three. The Whirl wind is rewarded for creating a certain number of four or more chains. The Whirl wind removes nine blocks from the arena and any points that are created as a result of these blocks being removed are also multiplied by three. Finally, the Slow spell which as you’d guess slows down time for five seconds. In this time your spell force grows faster (the green indicator) wheras the black witches violet/pink force slows down. To earn the Slow spell you need to earn quarter of a million points.
At the end of each level you get a stats window that tells you your score, a breakdown of how you scored in that level and a comparison with the top scorer in that level. You can set up multiple profiles; If a family member or friend has scored better you will see the time they completed the level in below your own time. If you manage to beat the best score you’ll be congratulated an replace their name in the high score portion of the stats window.
Controls:
Mouse controls the movement of pieces
Esc – pause - also brings up options menu
Images:
You can see more images HERE (19) as a slideshow
System Requirements:
- Windows 98/ME/XP/Vista
- Pentium III processor
- 256 Mb RAM
- 50 Mb hard drive space
- 32 Mb video memory
- Sound card
- DirectX 7
Conclusion:
There’s nothing special about the game IMO, with only a few bonuses I personally would get bored very quickly with this game, but it does have some appeal. I did find the music a little annoying after a while. Some may find the background sounds inappropriate as well because you get belches and farts interspersed with standard gaming music There’s also an annoying cutesy giggle that starts whenever you hear any of the above noises.
I’d suggest to the developer that they add more bonuses and reduce the amount of points you require to gain a new life or at least add another life award at around a quarter of a million. On average I scored just over a thousand points for each level I completed. Without scoring multipliers it would take 500 levels to gain a new life. I doubt I’d be playing the game for so long unless it was improved.
Overall I'd say it was a game worth downloading, but it’s not one of the top end match three’s in my opinion; partly because there’s few extras included in the game, it’s just a basic match three with crisp graphics. I’d give it a 6 out of 10, but only because I like match three games and it’s not already free from the usual free sites.
Additional Information:
36 match three’s available via Gametop and 47 Match three’s available from MyPlayCity.