Game Reviews

Diamond Digger Saga

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Diamond Digger Saga

Diamond Digger Saga is a quintessential release by the developer behind of some of the most popular video games made by human hands, King.

It's not amazing in any way. It doesn't break any new ground. It's almost completely derivative of the company's previous titles.

But it's also super addictive, very casual-friendly, and extremely well-made.

A familiar tale

Upon firing up the game you're presented with that classic King level layout - a long and winding path of puzzle stages for you to conquer.

Your Facebook avatar appears next to the stage you're on, and it's as satisfying to pass a pal here as it was in Candy Crush Saga, and Papa Pear Saga, and Bubble Witch Saga, and... well, you get the idea.

The core gameplay is matching three or more adjacent Diamonds to remove them and the tiles beneath them. Doing so allows water to fill the space vacated by the tiles, and if the water gets to a gate it passes through and takes you to the next screen.

Underneath these tiles there might be bonus points or items you need to collect to finish the level. There might even be a Firefly nestled amongst them that needs to be woken up.

Sometimes destroying tiles is made harder by a hazard or obstacle. Gates have locks that must be opened by collecting keys scattered about the area, ice covers blocks and you need to match diamonds next to it to break through, and so on.

Happily ever after?

It's not all obstacles to victory, some elements give you a helping hand. If you match Diamonds with similarly coloured Rockets, then they fire and remove everything in a straight line.

A special move that's free to use but is gradually built up over time allows you to choose one colour of Diamond and remove them all from play.

There are power-ups to purchase to help you through stages too, such as Dynamite that blows a massive chunk of Diamonds away. You can also spend Gold on extra turns, should you fail a mission by a hair's breadth.

This should all sound very familiar, because it absolutely is. King has put a different spin on match-3, and it's highly enjoyable, but after a few hours you realise you're playing a variant of a game you've already played to death.

That's not a bad thing necessarily, and Diamond Digger Saga is certainly enjoyable, but it's the same kind of fun you've experienced time and time again with Farm Heroes Saga, and Pet Rescue Saga, and... well, you get the idea.

Diamond Digger Saga

Solid but uninspired: Diamond Digger Saga is a very well constructed match-3 with a twist, but that twist isn't big enough to tempt back people bored of Candy Crush and the like
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Peter Willington
Peter Willington
Die hard Suda 51 fan and professed Cherry Coke addict, freelancer Peter Willington was initially set for a career in showbiz, training for half a decade to walk the boards. Realising that there's no money in acting, he decided instead to make his fortune in writing about video games. Peter never learns from his mistakes.