Call of Atlantis HD is a good match-three-style game that continues a trilogy of Atlantis-themed games from Playrix. The game is free to try, so if a Bejeweled-style game with adventure elements sounds interesting, you’ll want to give this app a shot.
First, though, there are some negatives to address. Nowhere on the App Store download page does it mention the true price of the app. It is certainly free to download and try, but approximately a quarter of the way through the story, a screen pops up informing me that I need to pay $4.99 to continue. To make this worse, the only way to go back and play any previously solved levels would require a reinstall. To me, this seems a bit dishonest, and I would much prefer that the full price be disclosed from the get-go.
The other issue I would address is the size of the game board. This won’t be a problem for everyone, but I found the larger screen size of the iPad was not well-utilized, making it hard to select the specific tile I was aiming for. As the timer is counting down, sometimes both speed and accuracy are needed to finish the stage, and the small tiles made this difficult.
There are a lot of positives to discuss, as well. The match-three gameplay was very well done, and I felt quite a bit of tension, as the timer counted down, to free the last puzzle piece needed to finish the stage.
Strategy also came into play quite frequently. The dilemma is when to use the various power-ups that can be gained as they fall off the bottom of the game board. Play them early to guarantee finishing a stage, or carry them with you to the next (more difficult) stage, and risk not finishing the current one.
Breaking up the excellent match-three “meat” of the game, are hidden-object mini-games and story screens that display factoids about your current location on the Mediterranean-themed map. These sections are not my favorite parts of the app, but they do a fine job of adding more depth to an already good match-three game.
Call of Atlantis HD is a quality title, and can certainly compete with the best match-three games for iOS devices. $4.99 might be slightly more than some will want to pay for this type of game, but the app is free to try, and by the end of the first few stages, it will be clear what the game has to offer.
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