We hate it when we get a game that we can’t say anything bad about, because the game is just too damn good. 4 Elements is one of those games. We gave you a preview a few weeks back, and yesterday it came out for the rest of the world to enjoy. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, get to it! Let us count the ways why you should.

In a world saturated by match-3’s, 4 Elements stands out as one that does it right and does it well. You might mistake it for a hidden object game in the first five minutes - after a beautiful, fully-voiced cutscene, an animated fairy comes out and asks for your help in finding some broken items in a scene. Piece these items together, and you unlock the cave where one of four books of magic is stored: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. For each book, you play 16 levels of linking three or more tiles together to form a path to a goal; and when you’re done, a missing element is restored in the kingdom. Rinse and repeat for the remaining three books.

Oh, the detail - every single tile, background, and effect has been painstakingly illustrated. Each page in a book of magic is painted with dragons, griffins, dwarves, and more, complete with descriptive text. Colored tiles fall with subtle sound effects; special tiles are spectacular, like Flaming Arrows which explode like fireworks. Every corner of this game is art, and the gameplay feels so effortless you can’t help but marvel at how they did everything right. Even the level design is clever without being frustrating - very rarely will you be forced to use one of your power-ups, as there are usually several ways to clear a level. The puzzle factor is just enough to feel rewarding once you figure it out.

We could go on and on about this game, but really, it’s something you have to experience to appreciate. Just like its setting, this game is pure magic - and a breath of fresh air in a market that sorely needed it.

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(6 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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