Pets Tower

A simple formula can be reused many times in different circumstances, especially when it comes to video games. As an obvious example, most match-three games are the same in regards to gameplay mechanics, but simple modifications can have a great impact on the experience. In fact, that’s the reason there are so many match-three games out there.

Fend off colorful monster attacks

Pets Tower is a very simple match-three game that fails to catch you in its spell, mainly because the mechanics are nothing out of the ordinary. There are no special power-ups or interesting story to keep you busy, so the experience gets dull in a rush. On the other hand, it’s relaxing and simple enough to keep you mildly engaged for a while, depending on your previous experience with the genre.
To begin with, the goal is to clear as many monsters from the board as possible before the time runs out. You can clear monsters by dragging your cursor over those of the same color, as long as they are near each other. Vertical, horizontal and diagonal combinations are possible, but it’s important to pay attention to the order, because you cannot go back once you start.

Respect the time limit or restart the level

The most annoying part of the game is the fact that you have to meet the quota within the time limit, otherwise you have to restart the entire stage. Unfortunately, there is no way to know how many points a match rewards you with, so you are always playing in the dark. You can learn how to understand the scoring system after a while, but it requires patience, too much for a weak game such as this one.
The graphics are very basic in every regard, especially when it comes to the monsters and the board itself. There’s only a handful of monster variations, and this gets boring quite quickly, especially since you have to sometimes replay the stages in order to keep up with the time limits. Furthermore, the background never changes, so you are always looking at the same thing.

A basic experience with nothing exciting to keep you playing for long

In the end, Pets Tower could have easily included more gameplay elements to make it easier to enjoy yourself for more than a few minutes, but it failed to do so. Hence, the experience gets stale after the first handful of stages.