Candy Crush for People Who Like Keeping Their Money

Jeanne Marie Hoffman April 20, 2015 Video Games Leave a comment

I don’t like any game that locks you out for a few levels unless you pay money.

1. Â I’d go broke pretty quickly. Â 2. Â If there’s no wifi on your flight, you can get stuck–even if you are willing to pay.

Candy Crush is really popular–so popular, a man ruptured his thumb playing it too much–and people have absentmindedly spent hundreds of dollars buying new lives.

I prefer a less flashy game. Â Cradle of Rome 2. Â Instead of matching candy, you are matching resources.

So maybe it’s a step down onÂ Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and maybe less thrilling. Â But as you match the items together, you are also collecting resources to build your empire.

So to me, having an empire is a lot cooler than a lollipop.

My empire even has a cool fountain.

The game play is similar to Candy Crush. Â You can match 3 or more for fame and prizes.

But you can also match together weapons to blow up part of the screen.

Awesome.

So maybe the music isn’t as perky and maybe the graphics aren’t as… pink.

But there’s a lot of game play. Â It’s free to download, but it’s actually $4.99 for the game. Â Which is a lot less than the few hundredÂ overall.

You can buy extra lives in the game, but that’s only really for people who don’t want to lose their immediate place when they mess up. Â I’ve never bought a single life, and I’ve beat the entire game.

There’s also Blitz Mode and Tournament Modes where you can compete against other high scores once you beat the game overall.

The one downside is you cannot replay the game levels once you beat the game. Â So you can only play the Blitz and Tournament modes after that point, unless you want to destroy your empire and start over.

But… I just… once I know what power feels like, I can’t give it up–even if it means I get to play all of the levels again.