Alchemy Deluxe

Yeah, I know... a lot of puzzle reviews. But it's not my fault. They are so addictive. Like this one here, called "Alchemy Deluxe".

When I first played the game and saw the graphics, it didn't impress me much. It had nice colors though (Doh!). Anyway, like I was saying. Not much to impress me, but after that, I started playing it? and boom! The fun began.

Straight from the PopCap Games labs, this game comes to entertain you at least during the work break you have, if not even on a boring afternoon at home. So we will get down to business real quick.

The rules of the game are pretty simple. First of all, you have to know that in order to win the game you will have to turn the entire tablet in gold. You do this by matching different colored magic runes. The matching is not that easy though. They will match for color or... shape.

For example, if you have a violet symbol and place it in a spot on the tablet, another one will follow it. The next one can be of the same color and then you have to place it next to the other one on the table or it may have a different color, but the same shape.

When you've completed a row of runes, they will disappear from the tablet. They will turn that row in gold and plus, they will leave you more place to continue the game. The lines and rows can be completed horizontally or vertically.

Pretty easy, huh? Well, maybe not quite easy. Sometimes you will get a "discarded symbol". Do not bother trying to fit them on the table. Those will be discarded by clicking the right button of the mouse. Here you have to be a bit prepared. The moment you discard a symbol, a barometer, called the FORGE, will be activated. When the red liquid gets to the top, you lose and you will have to start the level all over again.

Those "discarded symbols" are the only ones that you'll feel like losing. Sometimes, a normal symbol won't fit on the arrangement you made on your tablet, so that one will be discarded too. The barometer will fill. That will be stopped if the next symbol you receive will be placed on the table.

Things get a bit tricky the moment you will have more runes on the table. You will see at one point that sometimes if you have a rune that matches the color or the shape of another rune it still won't fit next to it. That is because each rune must match all the other runes around it.

The next step is somehow a power-up: the grey stone. This can be used as a "wild card" and be placed in whatever spot on the table, in the middle of no matter what arrangement of runes you might have. This will come in very in handy if you have just one square to complete the whole table and no rune would fit.

Another power-up of this game works a bit strange. I say this because it can be used in your advantage, or on your disadvantage. When you get the SKULLS, watch out. These little spinning white heads can destroy any wild card or any rune on which it's placed. When you get a skull, be careful where you click.

The game has three difficulty levels and the more you advance the more points you get. Of course, the harder the difficulty the quicker you will get to the bottom of the problem and that is to become an Alchemist Emperor... or something like that.

Have fun!