Casual Review

Full Review

Inca Quest takes a tried and true bubble-shooting casual mechanic and brings it to life. The basic game is very simple. If you have played any of a dozen “lots of spheres are descending from the sky and you must shoot them with balls to match 3 or more and make them disappear” games, you will instantly recognize the style, and if you haven’t... well, you’re just not playing enough casual games.

But what Inca Quest does is take that mechanic and do it really well. The graphics and sound are top notch, the controls are simple, and the whole experience is a notch above the competition. Especially cool are the many original special pieces, like the fire curse or shadow curse that we haven’t really seen in other games of the type. They give you a real feeling of progression through the levels that many similar games lack, and give you some reason to play more levels. Every temple ends with a neat “Treasure Room” puzzle game that’s good fun and just short enough that it leaves you wanting more. There is even a little marketplace where you can buy new abilities to help you in he levels. In the later temples, you’ll need these, so store your cash!

Additionally, there is a very well done puzzle mode for the game that is honestly more fun in the long run than the adventure mode. The puzzles are all easy enough that you’ll get them in 2-3 tries, but they are all very satisfying to complete, and if you get stumped you can always get a hint. Of course, getting hints costs you lives, but since you have about a billion lives to spare, it’s no biggie. Just remember when playing the puzzles that you can swap your next ball to shoot by pressing the right mouse button – many puzzles depend on that.

The story is also cute. The main map is extremely beautiful, with various temples in the jungle for you to explore. Each temple comes with a small comic which, in a shocking new twist in casual game comic strip intros, are actually kind of funny. They, and the rest of the story and art, have a real tongue-in-cheek homage to pulp adventure movies and comics feel that really works with the rest of the game. The references to the “Society of Jolly Good Adventurers” made me giggle every time I saw them.

The game is full of neat little touches that show how much care and love the developers put into the game. For instance, there is a cute little Inca drummer who celebrates your big matched by playing a little song on the drums, and can even give you hints in the puzzle mode by playing the drums and sending musical notes out over the game board to show you the best places to shoot. The voiceovers are also a real treat. The game looks at how you are playing and gives you little hints and tips, all in a funny English-explorer kind of theme. It’s well done, and doesn’t get as annoying as voiceovers in other games tend to do.

On the down side, a few of the graphics look a little old-school – especially the Inca-tokens you are shooting, which seemed a bit busy and pixellated. The mouse does not change color based on the next ball you are shooting, which should be a law in these kind of games from now on, so we’re hoping they’ll change that out in upcoming games. Finally, the levels get pretty hard about 3-4 temples, and you may find yourself getting a little frustrated. But these problems are minor compared to the things the game does right, so don’ stress on it.

Overall, it’s a great little game. Download it and give it some love.

Review by Nick Kojima