Jungle Magic
It's funny; I remember being a wee lad with a clunky PC who just installed the Shockwave player on his computer, because the pop-up prompt told me to and shockwaves are generally cool phenomena, and I'd use it to play quaint little time-wasters. Notable among those games were the progenitors of the match-3 family, a lineage that's seen some serious sprouting the past few years. Why, I remember when all the games had you do was match 3 like-mannered objects, and that was all there was to it! None of these bonuses, or power-ups, or other shiny doodads all you kids are so used to nowadays in developers' attempts to distinguish their sample from the pack. And I mean, combo multipliers are one thing, but sorcery? You whippersnappers are a tough crowd to impress. Say hello to Jungle Magic, the newest addition to the match-3 family tree.
The objective is familiar to those acquainted with the genre; click on one piece to select, and then click on an adjacent piece to swap their respective locations. Should the swap result in an unbroken chain of three similarly colored tiles, the pieces will vanish, your score will rise, and new pieces will rain in from the top. The twist on this one comes in the form of a golden talisman, which has been splintered apart into sparkling fragments in every level. You'll have to clear out all the colorful detritus keeping a fragment from reaching the bottom of the play screen in order to collect it; once you've pocketed all of the talisman parts (within the time limit, of course), you're off to the next level, where even more matching action awaits. But that's not the whole story, of course. This isn't "Jungle Sorting", it's Jungle Magic, so it's magic you'll get.
As levels progress, you'll gain access to a host of mystical powers, each one assigned to a different color. By creating two consecutive matches of the same color, you'll trigger a spell, whose effect depends on the pieces' hue. Let's say you make two matches in a row with gray tiles, right? Gray is the color of wind, so somewhere on the board, a whistling bullet of air pressure obliterates a piece directly below a golden fragment. Doesn't sound too chaotic, but remember, once the levels start going, you're going to learn magic for just about EVERY kind of color, and before you know it, pieces will be exploding in squalls of wind and flame, and lightning bolts will scurry through your tiles with the mercy of a storm.
Watching all the spell effects go off is a blast, which is handy, since you'll need to be making clever use of your magic by an early point in the game in order to survive. Since only two consecutive matches of a single color are required to trigger a spell, though, you're never too far away from that bonus time, which can make some of the levels a little on the easy side as long as you keep an eye on those yellows. Another problem is when your magic arcs out of control (every jungle shaman's worst nightmare), and the combo chains start endlessly reproducing. Most of the time, this is okay (and rather spectacular to watch), but occasionally, the self-chaining will step on the toes of a vital match you were about to make. This isn't so frequent as to hinder the fun factor, however, and to be honest, every sorcerer knows that's what they signed up for when leashing their will to the forces of the cosmos. Comes with the territory.
At its core, though, there's a robust match-3, with nice graphics and some nifty mechanics. There's a lot of fun to be had in devising strategies where different spells play off of each other, especially once your different colors start "leveling up." (Green becomes a multi-pronged juggernaut of raw elemental destruction.) There's never been a better, more magical time to become a matcher.
Is it just me? or did this make a huge leap in difficulty at level 6?
I know exactly what you're talking about, Saltone. I actually got really frustrated the first time I hit level 6 and wondered why the time seemed so short, as opposed to before.
Level 6 is the first time you need to be making consistent use of your magic, notably the yellow time-booster. As long as you make sure to make some yellow matches every 40 seconds or so, you'll notice the level goes a lot smoother.
Dan - Thanks for that tip on level six. I was about to give up on this game when I got to that level :-)
Gotta love the JIG community.
I had the exact same experience at Level six. Embarrassingly enough, I failed 5 or 6 times before I realized that the yellow combos got me more time!
But after that it gets rather easy again. Although I am enjoying the fireworks that occur when all the different effects start to chain together...
Fun game! I think it will probably kill slower computers, though. It slows down on mine if too many things are happening at once, and this ain't no slouch!
I find the time limitation both interesting and frustrating. It's difficult to get the right combo, so it turns into "click on yellow" instead of "find matches". Also, if you click on the wrong color of a match first, you will break your combo [say the you are swapping on a green and a yellow, but you click the green first, you'll break your yellow combo. :-( ].
Finally, a non-obvious hint:
In levels that have holes, you can swap the pieces sideways over a hole. Then a match below will drop that piece much faster than going all the way down.
Tip to developer(s): the next level button should take you to the next level (as opposed to the level select screen), in my opinion.
I enjoyed the first levels (up to around 8 I guess) as thought was required to get the fragments to the bottom. The later levels had great explosions but it was hard to see what was going on and there was little thought required to complete the levels. I ended almost ignoring the fragments and just stuck with the following:
yellows and greens with occasional red.
I completed it to the end as it was a fun little blast though I doubt I will go back to it.
I can't get past level 3. I've played it about 20 times, and am starting to feel dumb. What am i doing wrong?
Well that was fun. I beat it all in one sitting, which seems to be becoming a trend for me (starting with Copy Cat and continuing to this one). Someone, help me...
Yeah, it wasn't terrible hard. I only ran out of time once and that was early on when I wasn't paying attention.
I did notice a couple times that I'd match up four stones but they wouldn't disappear. I'll try to get screen shots if the developers are interested.
Also, there's not real end game is there? You just keep playing with your new powers?
Very fun game. One of the best match-3 games I've played, I'd say.
One correction to the review: you gives the example of clearing yellow tiles to put an hourglass icon on a random tile, which isn't quite right. Only the green tiles, when comboed, put icons on other tiles (and as you level up, they can up to five different icons). Getting a combo of any other color takes effect immediately.
Duly noted and updated.
Thanks, Keith! Silly green and yellow tiles, BOTH affecting time...
There's a minor aesthetic bug: if you quit the game in the middle, when you go back to it later, the big icons of the various totems, that you see in between levels, are all gone. Completing subsequent levels only brings back the totems that were changed by those levels.
@zack However, you still have the powers granted by those totems, so it isn't that big of a deal
Isn't that hard? I literally have played level 9 15 times! The time limit severely cripples this game. I mean just turns a very good game into a piece of garbage. Levels 1-8 first try. Level 9 impossible. I keep running out of time even with making all the green and yellow combos I can. The ONLY way to beat this game is to get a million bajillion time powerups since you have such a severe shortage of time and the other powerups suck more than a hundered vacumn claners. Game designers PLAYTEST YOUR GAMES!. Well I give up. WOW. WOW. I didn't believe it possible to blow the game design on a match 3 game. I've played probably 40 of these games and I have NEVER had such a rotten experence as playing this game. It just blows me away. WOW. I can't blieve it. I'm stunned. The time limit is such severely crippling in this game that it literally wrecks the game. I literally can not get past level 9. I always run out of time. I don't even come CLOSE to beating that level. It nearly makes me sick.
By the way I literally have played that same level for over 3 hous now. I have never, ever had such a hard time beating a level in a match 3 game. It's soul killing in a way. It just leaes a foul taste in my mouth.
The time limit is really only a problem if
1. you didn't realize that there is one
2. you are used to careful planning of moves to get as many chains as possible
3. you are too slow in general
Otherwise, the time bonuses you get from yellow and from your tree are more than enough to beat any level. For example, at level 9, you get four tree bonuses at once, and most of the times at least one of them is an additional time bonus. I had no problems to finish level 9 with 2+ minutes left on the clock.
In regard to the spell effects, I can't figure out how the fishes spell might be useful. I ended up casting it when blue stones got some nice additional bonus on them or if they helped to get a tile downwards, but not for the spell itself. Am I missing something important?
Piros12 et al. Are we playing the same game? I never had any problems. Even with the time constraints. I wouldn't say this game was hard at all. In fact, if you've played Biotronic on FB or Bejewelled or any other match game, this is one of the easier ones. Just not seeing why everyone says it's so hard.
I agree on level 9. Can't get it.
I don't understand how to use spells I guess.
I keep hitting on the green and yellow, I go after all the hourglasses. Never enough.
Is there some OTHER way to add time???
To those stuck on level 9: I was too, for quite a while. Then I realized the trick to this game is making same-colored matches at least two in a row. So 2 greens distributes the symbols onto the bricks, two yellows add time, two greys blow up a single block under a puzzle piece, etc. Focus on just making chains of color matches and ignore the pieces. You'll beat every level with time to spare.
For anyone who is having trouble beating a level using spells, somebody already mentioned it but it's worth saying again:
You only activate a spell for a particular piece if you match two of that colour in a row. But, in order for it to be counted, the piece you actually click on must be the colour you are trying to match.
For example, you want to get a time bonus, and you see two places on the board where you can match yellows. If you click on a yellow piece to switch with another making the combo, the yellow totem icon will come forward. If you go to make the second match of yellow tiles, but actually click and swap whatever coloured tile you are swapping with the yellow, the combo doesn't apply! So if you want to earn the bonus effects for a tile colour, always click and physically move the tile you want into position, don't click the tile you are swapping out. Hope that makes sense...
Thanks Botch, that was it for me.
I went quickly without having to redo any sections from level 9 to 18, and then had to quit before getting busted by my wife who hates it when I play games!!
LOL!
As this should make the game more complex than what I've experienced, I've tried it a few times. It is a bit more complex than always moving the color of the spell your want to get:
If you action results in only one match, then the order of clicking the stones is not important.
If you get more than one combination from the move, then the order is important.
This can cause trouble if you do some accidental moves, only to discover that the stone you just moved creates a combo you hadn't expected.
This is actually really fun, and I'm not normally a fan of match three games.
With the time limit and puzzle pieces to watch, it's less strategy than opportunistically going for whichever combo colour is most common or most needed at the time, but I'm okay with that.
In fact I like it, it's like little mini-goals that change every few seconds.
The only part of this game that really bugs me is that you can't unselect pieces if you misclick, so I've accidentally made the wrong combo with adjacent pieces more than once. But otherwise, this game is pretty much perfect for a mindless 5-20 min break.
18 min on one level is a little extreme and 62 totems? wow!
wow the tip about the yellow ones helped me pass level 6 ive been stuck on that one for ever thanks!
Ok, I'm obviously not as "techy" as some of you out there because I need help. Got past level 3 once but can't seem to do it again after having lost the game I was in the middle of....Need some help because I like the game otherwise! Also, I have tried the one spoiler hint suggested to help drop totems but must not understand it because I can't get it to work! Help!!
I am getting fed up with level 9! I have played hundreds of times, no matter how much extra time I get, if I have the time I don't have the matches! Please help! I am going crazy and I can't stop!
This game moves like molasses in January, and I'm playing on the latest version of Firefox on a year-old MacBook Pro. Unlike most modern match-3 games that let you swap tiles by sliding them, in this one you have to click both. Not worth the effort.
[Edit: Be careful with Flash games running in Firefox since it is not multi-threaded (yet!). If you have several tabs open, you will see severe lag in your Flash games irrespective of the power of your computer. -Jay]
Instructions for playing Jungle Magic Game
1. After 1 and 2 level, you get a tree with lightning, which enables the next level
explosive accessories. These supplements help the player to cancel the diamonds, which contain them.
Inserting these additions is achieved 2 times Merging 3 and more green.
This applies prvensveno to manually align horizontally and vertically, does not activate if
the game in falling to make automated.
Activation is done randomly given a similar alignment of 3 or more same color, which include additions to yourself.
2. After played 3rd level gets a little Buddha. A similar procedure with a green yellow settled here.
This 2 consecutive yellow alignment allows the extension of time for 30 seconds.
3. Moving 4th level of the tree gets another branch, and after 5 level and lightning.
4. When you are finished, and 6 level receive the trumpet, then you have the opportunity to align
silver diamond drop one place to the gold parts.
Each subsequent level is obtained by passing more and more support, so this game becomes lighter to play.
Good luck and fun you were
Milomlad
Hi every body,,,
I am your friend sailor Emad from saudi arabia... thank you all for this magnificent game.
say congratulations to me because I finished 9th level after two days of continuous playing, now I reached level 13 and still try to finish it.
http://img104.herosh.com/2010/08/22/64682626.jpg
http://img105.herosh.com/2010/08/22/451941361.jpg
Finally... I finished the game.
Not sure where all the complaints are coming from. This wasn't hard at all -- I finished every level with over a minute left on the clock the first time through.
All I did was always match in color pairs. I looked under my pieces for a good match (vertical by preference, horizontal under two, then anything at all). Took it, then immediately clicked a same-color match elsewhere on the board. The click-while-disappearing thing is very useful for that.
the board got crazy enough to slow down the game a few times, nd I had to wait for it to simmer down, but there might as well not have been a timer for all I noticed it.
Really wish the developer would put a 'reset' button on this game for those of us that like to do a replay. As it is, if you've already played this through, the levels all show as 'played' and during a replay when I click 'next level' I sometimes can't remember which is the next level. ... If that makes any sense. Anyway.. a 'reset' function would be nice. All games should have that option I think.
Is this link busted for anyone else?
Link has been kaput for months, possibly since Infant Tyrone reported it last November.
Missing that Jungle Magic goodness. Sigh.
Update