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Reviews for "Fruit Rush"

Very fun game. Obviously, we've seen games like this before, but I'm not one of those types who gives a low score because a game isn't entirely original. The fact is, it can still be a good game. This one is just as you said below: polished and simple. The colors are vibrant, the sounds are awesome, and the music is refreshing (although I didn't listen to it for long). There are a number of medals to earn, some of which are seriously hardcore. The upgrade system adds a lot of replay and customization to the game, and it's not hard to earn coins, which lifts game above being just a brief experience.

However, some of the gameplay mechanics are troublesome to me. I feel like everything is moving too fast. The best part of a game like this is not just clearing the board, but being able to strategize your moves, figuring out how to set up the best combinations, how to avoid leaving single blocks by themselves, and maximizing your combos. In this game, it isn't long before I don't have time to think at all. By the time I hit level 14, I feel like I'm just frantically clicking on every available move, and much of the strategy vanishes. While I did reach as high as level 26, I feel like the game becomes nearly impossible by level 15, as everything is so fast and frantic, and only with luck can the player get past it. Then, when level 16 is reached... magically, the game slows down! And suddenly it's not too tough to continue until level 25 or so. After that, it speeds back up and... ah, forget it.

I bought quite a few upgrades, but they weren't as much a help as you might have intended. Certainly, bombs and telekinetic coconuts can keep your game going for another 10 levels, but I never really got what I needed when I needed it, even with the back-up item. By the same token, when the board was nearly empty, I was getting all sorts of bonuses that I had no use for.

Lastly, I'm a little torn on the whole "single fruits turn into immovable blocks when clicked" mechanic. I have seen it before, and I admit it's better having random blocks dropping out of the sky as the game gets harder, but this game requires the player to look in so many places at once and click groups of fruit so fast, that it's nearly impossible not to screw yourself by accidentally creating blocks. The fact that the game was effectively forcing me to destroy myself as it got faster and harder felt kind of like big middle finger to me.

Still, this is really fun and addictive game, and I spent a lot of time writing about it because I think it's good. I just think it could be even better with a slightly smaller frustration factor (slightly... no need to wreck the challenge). Practice does help to improve, but at times it felt more like I was fighting the game than playing it.

One recommendation: instead of the "reset" button erasing your progress completely, how about it just removes all of your upgrades and returns your money to you? That would allow the player to redistribute resources after experimenting with different upgrades and deciding what works best.

VashTS88 responds:

Thanks a lot for playing and taking the time to write such an extensive review! I think I agree almost 100% with what you said. I had a really hard time balancing this game so I'm sure it's not perfect at all. The inclussion of upgradable items made it really hard to balance, since I didn't want them to make the game ultra easy when bought, but to help the player by giving him a chance to get further. That's why they appear randomly and consequently, a luck factor is involved.

The levels are grouped in what we could call chapters, incresing game speed between levels and slowing it down and adding a new fruit when beating a chapter (certain group of levels). I did it like this because I wanted to give the player some rest from time to time, with multiple intense moments in between.

About the frozen fruit mechanic, this was included to prevent click spamming. Maybe its a bit hard of a punishment when starting the game, but I think is lighter when items are upgraded. As I said I had a hard time balancing difficulty xD It's impossible to find a perfect balance suited for all kind of players but I really did my best and I'm very happy that you liked it even if you found it a bit frustrating sometimes.

The reset button idea is great, I'm considering implementing it.
Thanks again for your feedback, it is very much welcome! :)

I like it.Too bad my computer glitched ouy and messed up the gameplay.