Wizard of Oz: Magic Match

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Wizard of Oz: Magic Match

by Aethyna Apr 11, 2017 | 2 Votes | 1 Played | 0 Reviews

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7 rate

Genres:

Casual

Graphics:

3D

Labels:

Magic , Match 3

Platforms:

Publishers:

Zynga Featuring the familiar childhood story that we all love, Wizard of Oz: Magic Match allows you to help Dorothy and her dog, Toto, overcome various obstacles as they travel on the Yellow Brick Road. Will you be able to guide Dorothy and Toto safely through the World of Oz? Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Community Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Relive the timeless tale of Dorothy and her loyal dog, Toto, in the Wizard of Oz through this unique match-3 puzzle game by Zynga, Wizard of Oz: Magic Match! Match various colored items together as you make your way on the Yellow Brick Road. Meet various beloved characters from the fable and defeat the evil witch who pops up now and then with the help of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Will you be able to guide Dorothy and Toto safely through the World of Oz?

Plotline

Featuring the familiar childhood story that we all love, Wizard of Oz: Magic Match allows you to help Dorothy and her dog, Toto, overcome various obstacles, be it troublesome crystals or attacks from the evil witch, as they travel on the Yellow Brick Road.

Gameplay

Being a match-3 puzzle game, you’ll need to match up various items of the same color or type just so you can collect them from the game board. Like most match-3 games, there are plenty of special items that you can create simply by matching more than 3 items together.

Depending on the matching formation you used, you’ll get very different special items. For instance, matching items in a linear form will produce a Magic Beam which, depending on its orientation, can clear an entire row or column. However, if you match the 4 items in a square form, you’ll get a Butterfly instead. Butterflies are incredibly useful in this game since they main purpose, after being matched, is to help collect items from difficult areas on the board and to break Hazards (a.k.a. obstacles), such as the evil witch’s red smoke or crystals.

The same goes for matching 5 items together. If you match it in a straight line, you’ll get Glinda’s Crystal Ball which will clear all items of the same type/color. By matching these 5 items in a T- or L-shape, you’ll then get Glinda’s Bubble that will explode the gems around them... twice!

Interestingly, the game is rather unique in the sense that it provides another special item that you can get by matching 6 items – the Munchkin Lollipop. The Lollipop can be used to change the color of all the items it is swapped with on the board to the same color as the Lollipop. It’s basically a color-changer, that other games usually include as a power-up.

Best yet, you can combine any two of these special items to create much bigger effects. So, let’s say if you match Glinda’s Bubble with a Butterfly, the Butterfly will then carry the Bubble to a random site an activate it. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can even get a huge cascading effect just from a single move!

Similar to other match-3 games, you’ll be required to complete the level goals given in order to proceed to the next level. The goals can range from simply scoring a certain amount of points or collecting a specific number of items. However, unlike other games, Wizard of Oz: Magic Match showcased its uniqueness by introducing a variety of interesting game mechanics that will definitely get the cogs in your brain turning as you try to figure out the best way to tackle the match-3 puzzle game you’re faced with.

Items like Toto’s basket for example, changes the gameplay slightly by allowing you to drag from the basket to link up and collect the items needed as opposed to only matching them up. There are also times when hazards like the evil witch’s smoke which will require you to collect enough buckets of water. Once the water cleared the smoke, you’ll have unlocked a previously “hidden” part of the game board.

There are even puffy clouds that you can match to release the hidden rainbow. The rainbow will add multipliers to the goal items on the game board, so that you can complete the level goals more easily. Of course, that is not to say that the game doesn’t have the more “traditional” hazards. There’s still the crystals that you can clear by matching over them, but be warned! They can stack up to several layers, so getting rid of them can be pretty hard as you advance to higher levels.

Each level goal will need to be completed within a limited number of moves though. If you ran out of moves, there is a few ways for you to get more. For example, if you managed to collect enough of Glinda’s wands to fill her Magic Meter for that level, Glinda will drop by to lend you a hand once you’ve exhausted all your moves. You’ll then need to spin a wheel to see what super power of Glinda’s you’ll get. If not, you could always spend coins (premium cash) to buy some or use the extra moves gifted to you by your friends.

Any leftover moves you have for a level, on the other hand, will trigger the Win Bonus round whereby your remaining moves will randomly turn normal items into special ones (usually Butterflies or Bubbles). All the special items are then activated.

There are also power-ups that you can buy and use to help you get through some of the tougher levels. There’s the Axe that will remove an item from the game board when used; Beams which will let you start a game with Beams on the board; as well as other power-ups that will clear entire rows and columns, add multipliers to all goal pieces, and return all Wicked Witch tiles to neutral tiles. Granted that there are many types of power-ups in this game, you are only allowed to bring along 4 different types per level.

Each level in Wizard of Oz: Magic Match has up to 3 stars for you to collect. These stars don’t really seem to do much, except to satisfy the perfectionist in all of us. As long as you complete all level goals and get a minimum of 1 star, you’ll be allowed to move on to the next level. Interestingly, you can actually rate each individual level if you wish to.

Although all 495 levels in the game are separated into various Chapters, you don’t need to get some help from a friend or have enough number of stars to “unlock” the next Chapter. Instead, you’ll automatically proceed to the next stage.

The 5 lives you have will not be consumed for every level you play either, since lives will only be lost if you failed a level. So, basically, if you are careful to complete each level at the first attempt, you can continue playing the game for as long as you like! Lives will rejuvenate on their own over time, but you can speed things up by buying some (with real money) or by redeeming the gifts of lives from your friends.

Community

Wizard of Oz: Magic Match encourages you to connect the game to your Facebook account due to several very valid reasons. In addition to getting yourself some free coins, you can also work with your friends to gift each other extra moves and lives. The score you earned per level can also be listed on a leaderboard so you can see how well you’ve done as compared to your friends. According to the game, friends can help you pass levels and will give you a daily Boost too.

Graphics/ Sound

The graphics in Wizard of Oz: Magic Match is very well-designed. The visuals have an art-style that suit the game’s theme perfectly. However, there are times when the resolution of certain images, namely the ones in the loading screens, looks a bit on the low side.

Not to mention, the game seems to be based on the older/ classic version of Wizard of Oz, because the voice acting used as well as the familiar “Over the Rainbow” music sound like something you’d hear from those old technicolor TV shows.

Conclusion

To sum up, one of the main reasons that Wizard of Oz: Magic Match is such a unique match-3 puzzle game is that the game made the entire gameplay feels a whole more like an adventure than just some other repetitive match-3 game. The game also keeps you on your toes by presenting multiple uniquely-different game mechanics and hazards throughout the game - challenges that truly embody the “puzzle” in the match-3 puzzle game genre. If you love the Wizard of Oz or are simply looking for a markedly-different match-3 puzzle game, then do give Wizard of Oz: Magic Match a try! You won’t regret it, that’s for sure!