Antique Shop: Lost Gems Egypt

Match three games may appear to be pretty simple, but they can also be very punishing and quite challenging. In essence, it depends on how much fun you want to have and how open you are to a few forced restarts. However, most of the games in the genre follow the same formula, which means that it’s difficult to get excited about something you have already played.

Antique Shop: Lost Gems Egypt tries to do things a bit differently, although not by much. If you have experience with the genre, then it should be easy to figure out how to accustom to the changes. Otherwise, the new features and gimmicks might not even influence you at all, depending on how eager you are to learn the ropes. The difficulty level scales nicely from stage to stage.

There is even a story that goes on in the background while you flip gems and fry your brains trying to figure out a solution. As it happens, the main character travels around the ancient Mediterranean, where you can find a variety of interesting artifacts forged by the powerful Egyptians. Almost every stage grants you an artifact or a power-up, but it is also possible to buy them.

Power-ups are not only available, but they are sometimes required in order to play the next few stages. One of them is the ability to select a block of four gems and rotate it any way you like. By doing so, you can access corners of the board that are otherwise blocked, and it is truly a game-changing gimmick. On the other hand, the rotating tool needs to be powered by collecting white gems, so it’s not very simple.

The graphics are about as colorful as they usually are in the genre, but even the backgrounds and the artwork featured in between the levels is striking. Granted, there aren’t many animations and cutscenes to enjoy, but they are hardly important in a match-3 game. The soundtrack keeps you good company along the way, with calming tunes and nice sound effects.

Even if it doesn’t look all that different at first, Antique Shop: Lost Gems Egypt has the power to take you by surprise after the first couple of levels. Hence, if you are in the mood for a challenge and you do not mind having to wield a variety of tools at the same time, this game can keep you busy for many hours.