Frutakia Review





Developer: Crazy Soft Publisher: Crazy Soft
Release Date: June 21, 2004 Also On: None

You like playing slots? How about games that involve luck? What about skill? If you do, Frutakia has all three.

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Crazy Soft’s Frutakia plays like a twist on a slot machine. 5 columns, 3 rows. 3 in a row anywhere will give you points and replace the old pieces with new ones. Combos can run for dozens of seconds and high scores can be obtained but I’m not sure if it is my skill or dumb luck that is awarding me with these points.

One thing for sure is that this game is addictive. Since I got my review copy about two weeks ago there has not been a day where I have foregone playing it. I’m convinced that at least some of the time the massive amounts of points I’m getting is because of me, but that could just be my wishful thinking.

There are three different modes of play: Easy, Hard, and Fruitakia. Easy takes time away every move you make. Hard mode takes time away constantly and Fruitakia mode takes time away every time a piece of moved up and down. Hard to explain how it works, but Fruitakia is the most exciting of the three. The game can be controlled either by the hard buttons or the stylus. You move the rows, one at a time, up or down to try to get 3 in a row. Imagine the game Bejeweled but only able to move the pieces up and down with the ability to mix all of the pieces at once, that is where the slots part comes in.

The graphics in this game, while not showing much, are great. Everything runs smoothly on my Clie TJ-37, so you Zodiac users should be fine. The game is even enhanced for the Zodiac, with full screen and vibration support. The sound is decent as well. Little more than blips and beeps but they fit in nicely and are appreciated.

I want to dislike Fruitakia but I can’t. I want to like it but I can’t really bring myself to do that either. The game is designed well and the presentation is perfect but I just wish I knew if I was playing a game that involved strategy or just me pushing buttons. The only thing I can recommend is to try it out; it’s definitely worthy of your time.

One thing I do love about Fruitakia is the way it reminds me of Palm games of yore. I can pick up and play it for literally one minute and then put it down and think nothing of it. The Palm platform needs more games like this.

Graphics: 8
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 6
Creativity: 7
Replay Value/Game Length: 8.5
Final: 7.3
Written by Chris Review Guide

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