Blend vibrant magic creatures and restore color to the world: Paint Monsters

Review

Gameplay 91%

Paint Monsters is a Match-3 Puzzle game where you connect colorful magical creatures by touching one and dragging your finger across close monsters of the same color. You can draw the line to the next space vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and if at least 3 spaces are covered, the monsters on them will disappear.   If you connect 5 of them in a straight line, you’ll create an Arrow Monster, which when matched takes out a while row or colum. If you connect 5 by diagonal lines or creatinga  square shape, you’ll get a Bomb Monster, which explodes affecting the 9 spaces surrounding it. And if you manage to make a 10 spaces line, you’ll create a Rainbow Monster, which you only need to connect to 1 monster to make it clear the grid from all the monsters of that color. The objective in each level is to eliminate a certain amount of monsters from the grid or clear spaces stained with ink, without running out of turns. There are black ink guards that you get rif of by making matches next to them; some have an armor and take 2 hits before disappearing. There are also ink slimes that can affect nearby monsters, creating another ink slime each turn by biting a monster next to it until you eliminate them all. But there’s an Ink Medicine Booster that gets rid of all the ink infected in the grid. In the stained spaces levels you need to make matches on the until you clean the whole grid, and some spaces need double cleaning. There are also levels where paint monsters are trapped in an ink web, and you need to include them in a match to set them free, and then you can use them in another match in order to make them disappear. Finally there are Cage Levels, where a monster is trapped in a locked cage somewhere in the grid, and there’s a key in a space, by including the key in a line, you can move it around until to connect it to the cage and set free that monster. It’s a very original objective, not commonly seen in similar puzzle games. At the beginning of each level you can choose boosters to start, like 5 extra turns, an Arrow Monster, or an eye dropper that gets rid of any monster in the grid you choose. When you win a level, if you have remaining moves you get a Paint Party where the special monsters in the grid explode and new ones are created for bonus matches, and then you get Star Rank depending on your final score. If you lose a level, you can buy 5 extra turns or start over.

Graphics 99%

Paint Monsters feature excellent 2D hand-drawn animation. The monsters are colorful and lively, with many facial expressions and their design has shiny spots and perfect shading for a great look. They react according to where the line is being drawn, sleep when you’re not touching them and there are many great art portraits for tips, tutorials and win screens.   Special Monsters are shiny and there are some cool light effects for the Boosters and the explotions. The line being drawn is animated and wakes up the monsters as you connect more and more. When you make a big line, you get overlayed animated text like “Paint-astic”, which has a colorful and nice shading design just as good as the monsters. The background looks a little simple compared to the characters. There’s a grass area with some plants, and the grid is a checkers board on the ground, nothing too fancy, but it works. The world map looks way better, with great classic painting style, pretty detailed and many elements surround the stages as you go on. The visual experience is on par with the most popular 2D puzzles available today, and looks awesome in big tablets.

Production Quality 93%

Gameplay wise, Paint Monsters may seem to be too similar to games such as Jelly Splash, and while it starts like something you’ve played before, it adds enough elements of its own to stand out and become an innovative puzzle experience.   There’s variety in level objectives and by the time you get to know all the game’s mechanics, you’ll see how challenging it can become. It would’ve been nice to have different music and backgrounds, but if you’re looking for a good puzzle, look no further.

Value for your Money 89%

Paint Monsters is free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. At first the game gives away boosters and extra turns, and then you have to pay for them. The game uses Golden Coins as currency, and you can’t get them while playing, you buy packages of coins to purchase what you need, and while not necesary to enjoy the full experience, spending a dollar for some extra turns in the harder levels may be a little expensive for some players.

Launch Video

Summary

Paint Monsters is a perfect choise for puzzle fans. While it doesn’t differentiate much from similar games at first, after some levels you notice the gameplay mechanics that make it unique, and in a few minutes you’ll be engaged with one of the most addictive and better looking Draw-Line-Connect-3 games available now for mobiles. Check it out if you’re a casual gamer or an hardcore Match-3 enthusiast. Pros

• Awesome 2D Hand-Drawn Art-Style and Animation
• Over a Thousand Levels to keep you entertained for a long time
• The gameplay adds enough changes to the formula to stand out from similar games

Cons

• It could’ve use a little more variety in music and backgrounds

Game Help Guru Rating 96%