Do you remember your first pet fish? You were so excited to bring it home and watch it swim happily around in its little bowl– for about two days. Then you realized something that millions already know… while they may be pretty and ideal for children learning to care for a pet, fish get boring quickly.

That’s probably how you’ll end up feeling about Big Kahuna Reef. Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s a fun little game. The premise is one you’ve seen before. Various sea-related objects fill up boxes in the levels and you have to match three or more to destroy them. You can do this by swapping any two adjacent pieces, as long as the switch makes a match. If you destroy a piece over a wooden box, the box gets destroyed, and when all the boxes are broken you win. Between levels you can view the reef that makes up the background, and send fish into the environment. You can earn new fish by advancing through the levels, which is kind of a neat feature, and filling the reef with hundreds of fish will probably keep you busy for a little while.

But after playing the game for a bit, you’ll notice that the gameplay doesn’t change very much. Other than the shape of the boxes, each level is pretty much like the one before. It also doesn’t help that the game has no powerups or bonuses to earn. Creating large chains or playing skillfully just gets you more points, and there’s nothing that shakes up the level or acts as a wildcard item. There are no additional play modes, unless you count turning the timer off (which I don’t). Multiplayer seems like a fun feature that could add some replay value to the game, but it requires multiple mice to be plugged into the same computer and most people probably won’t have an extra mouse or extra desk space to sit at for the other person.

If you’re into deep and action-packed gameplay with lots of complexity, you should probably pass on this one. But, if you’re looking for a simple and relaxing match-three game with neat environments, or if you want a game for your young children to play and enjoy, Big Kahuna Reef is perfect for you.

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