The match-3 legend that became the ultimate measuring stick for other match-3 games!

Those who survived the Facebook games craze might remember how insane everyone went with Candy Crush Saga. King (the developer, just in case you’re not aware) literally dug into a gold mine without them even realizing it. By the time the hype escalated and the sugar levels rose to all-time highs, they were already one of the world's most successful casual gaming companies.

The developers themselves didn’t seem all that ambitious at the beginning. However, the game’s success preceded even its launch on Facebook, making it all even more startling. With that said, this success was, for all intents, not entirely unwarranted.

Even if you hate everything surrounding Candy Crush, it must be admitted that it did many correct things at the same time and, what’s more important, at the right time. For one, it introduced actual level design into a tile-matching format, with different goals for users to achieve. The gameplay experience always remained fresh as a result, not sticking to the same generic “target score”. For example, some matches involved solving “puzzles within the puzzle”, such as wrapping candies in jelly before matching them or tackling a particular type of candy before moving on to another.

The most crucial thing to note is that these objectives were hyper-focused. King didn’t resort to constant goalpost shifting in a vain attempt to grab the player’s attention. It’s one thing to offer variety, but another very different one to overwhelm the player with a mish-mash of objectives to the point of exhaustion. King knew that if you constantly forced players to learn a new mechanic every five minutes, there was never a point at which they’d feel satisfied with their newly-acquired skills, and, as should be expected, frustration would ensue.

In other words, King knew how to handle momentum. For this reason, and after ten years of release, Candy Crush remains one of the top-grossing mobile games, just below newer games like Genshin Impact, Honor of Kings, and PUBG Mobile.

Candy Crush’s gameplay is almost laughably simple (though not necessarily “easy”). It’s a match-3 game where you must swap adjacent candies and match three or more identically-colored ones to make them disappear, allowing for more combinations. With four or more sweets, you create a special candy that, upon being matched, can clear an entire section of the board.

You can utilize several boosters to get around the puzzles more quickly, a staple feature that’s in virtually all match-3 games. Some of these boosters include the Lollipop Hammer (unlocked at level 7), which breaks a piece of candy; a Wrapped Lollipop Hammer (level 45), which clears a 5x5 area upon smashing a candy; and the Coloring Candy, which will spew out coloring bubbles on all candies of a dominant color, making it possible to remove a significant portion of the board.

You can earn boosters by watching ads or exchanging them with gold bars, the game’s premium currency earned from challenges, or bought in the Candy Crush Soda Bank for $1 minimum. While it’s not entirely impossible to win matches without spending real-life money, some players in more advanced levels (from around 2,000 onwards) may find it too difficult to progress without buying boosters, leading to the notion that it’s a pay-to-win game.

Each level must be completed in a sequence visible on a “saga map”, which bears the appearance of a fantasy board game. This brings me to talk about one last aspect: The design of the game, which, for me, it’s a net positive.

The visuals in this game are very colorful and pleasant, which is appropriate for a game about candies. The color palette is always consistent with the overall design language and the theme, and not one aspect appears out of place. Similarly, despite its simplicity, the game looks handcrafted in almost all respects, which definitely improves the experience, especially for people with a sweet tooth!

Candy Crush Saga is a must-play for every match-3 lover, if only for curiosity’s sake. While it could be deemed “overhyped”, this game is undoubtedly a solid excuse to remain stuck in front of your mobile screen for long spans of time. The gameplay can be fun and, if you’re not careful, addictive even (as sugar!) However, be advised that it could turn into a sweet-sour experience at a more competitive level!

Have you tried Candy Crush Saga yet? Drop a comment down below and relate your impression of this saccharine-drenched title!