Age of Japan

Forget the name: it means nothing. Ignore the setting: it's just dressing. All you need to know is this: Age of Japan is a match-three puzzler.

But before you switch off, thinking 'been there, done that', what's on offer here is not half bad.

Indeed, there's more than a sniff of Jewel Quest about affairs, the idea being to swap grid squares around to make lines of three or more. In much the same manner, neighbouring pieces are able to be switched, but only if they lead to a match-up.

As you might expect, any lines created are then cleared from the board, pieces falling from the top to fill up the vacuum. But where Age of Japan differs from some of its rivals is when it comes to just what squares you should be aiming to match-up in the first place.

While Jewel Quest often requires you to clear pieces from each grid square at least once, Age of Japan's board makes a set number of silver squares your target. Once pieces have been cleared from these areas, the squares turn neutral. As play moves on, gold squares also fall into the equation, these needing two sets of match-ups to rid them from the board.

It's a nifty way of ensuring play moves beyond simply spotting obvious lines of three. As the levels progress, you actively have to engineer match-ups three, four, or five moves ahead.

The very fact the shape of the board expands beyond the simple grid set-up also gives the game a crafty edge.

But more importantly than this, it always remains fun. Rare are the times when you get stuck with nothing to do. Even if your target squares are out of bounds (some areas are locked off with padlocked squares that have to be matched up), there are always lines you can create elsewhere on the board to keep things flowing.

It really is a brilliantly balanced take on the match-three genre, and while being an ode to Jewel Quest means it doesn't represent a major departure from the accepted match-three model, the small moves Age of Japan does make are repaid in play several times over.