Trio: The Great Settlement

From publisher Big Fish Games comes the quirky title 'Trio: The Great Settlement', a puzzle game similar to Columns (Sega Megadrive), Dr. Mario (NES) or Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Sega Megadrive). The Orbics are a peaceful race who's population have been imprisoned and it's up to you to free them by using the power of three; matching three same coloured Orbics to release them from their prisons.

This is another match three style game but with a couple of slight twists. Firstly instead of the Orbics falling from the top of the screen at a fixed position, you can move them left and right to choose where they drop. Secondly you don't have to match three in a row. You can match three in any pattern as long as the all touch. So zig zags, diamonds or full circles are acceptable.

Along with these unique aspects of the traditional match three style, part of the challenge of the game is the environmental obstacles that are introduced in the later levels. Orbics will fall from trapdoors at the sides of the level to mess up your lines, black Orbics will appear in the later levels that infect your Orbics to disrupt your lines, and the game adds additional challenges to completing levels - like having to destroy walls by creating links of Orbics in front of the walls. All of these and more add an extra level of difficulty to the traditional gameplay, but that's only part of the game.

After you have completed a level your score is calculated and transferred into money. You then return to the Orbics homeworld where you can spend the cash you have earned buying buildings for the Orbics. In this Sims style part of the game, the Orbics all have different personalities and needs which are displayed as thought bubbles above their heads. Some want bigger and better housing, some want better entertainment, each is different and it helps build a deeper relationship with the Orbics. As the game progresses you move on to other planets in search of a permanent home for the Orbics. But the only way to do this is to earn enough money to build transport for them.

It's a small part of the game but it adds a bit of depth to the cute Orbics characters and extends the main gameplay, otherwise the repetition and general duration of the game would be much less. I found it an enjoyable extra in the game and it encouraged me to keep playing the main puzzle game in order to earn more money to buy the buildings that the Orbics wanted. This may or may not be to everyone's taste, but as it accounts for such a smaller percentage of the game it's easy to get passed quickly.

It's quite a text heavy game in between the main gameplay so for some people that could be off-putting, but I personally found the level of text in between rounds to be of an acceptable level. As the game doesn't have voice acting the only way to progress the plot is through the character speech text. The option is there to skip through the text so if you've played through already, or just aren't interested in the plot, then it's easy to bypass.

Overall I found this game to be a fun and addictive little game to pass the time. The unique additions to the traditional match three style of gameplay are worthy of a play on their own, but with the simulation elements and the involving story, playing through the game and helping to secure the future of the Orbics feels like a new and refreshing experience.

You can download a demo version of Trio: The Great Settlement from Big Fish Games here: www.bigfishgames.com