Christmas can be a terribly stressful holiday. Fighting the crowds, spending lots of money, almost getting into a fistfight with someone because you HAVE to have that last toy for Johnny… who needs it? Unless, of course, you’re a retailer, in which case this is the most wonderful time of the year. Hipsoft lets you blow off some holiday steam and be the seller for once in this cute little Christmas themed game.

Have you ever played Chuzzle? This is Chuzzle with a Christmas spin. If you haven’t played Chuzzle, here’s how Gift Shop works: You have different colored ornaments in a 6×6 grid and you can slide any row as far as you like either vertically or horizontally. Your goal is to match three of the same color and fill a gift meter on the side of the screen. When the gift meter is filled, you sell a gift to a waiting customer. The longer it takes to fill the meter, the angrier to customer gets and the lower your money/score/happiness rating is.

Depending on how well you do during the level, you’re awarded a number of tokens at the end (though you can also grab bonus tokens during the stage) which you can use to buy new, more expensive gifts to sell to your customers and treats to keep them happy while they wait. The treats were a neat addition to the game because proper management of your customers’ satisfaction is key to maxing your score.

One problem I had with the game was that while it was trying to provide the same kind of gameplay that Chuzzle does, it lacks some of the features that give that game so much staying power (and could have made this a really stellar game). There’s only two modes of play (which aren’t that different) and only two challenges within the levels beyond managing your sales. They were coal (which you can’t match) and broken ornaments (which lock the rows they’re in). Some more variety on that front would have been nice, because after 15 odd levels I was getting tired of the same old thing with higher score totals to achieve.

Other than that, I found the game to be very enjoyable and addictive. I kept wanting to do ONE more level, get a FEW more tokens (the true hallmark of a well-made game AND consistent with the holiday spirit), and buy the next shiny gift.

If you’re looking for a title that’ll bring you fond memories of Christmas past and prepare you for this one too, this is an excellent choice. It might not have enough longevity for everyone to keep it, but it will certainly have you humming Silver Bells and enjoying yourself enough to give it a shot.

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