Season Match Series

Season Match series by Urse Games

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Season Match - November, 2007

Available at:
Big Fish
Steam



The story of Season Match starts when the Snow Queen has her magic mirror broken, and decides to make cold winter stay forever in the fairy-land. You will set out on a legendary journey to find the pieces of the broken mirror, put them together and beat the Snow Queen. So, get ready to use the wisdom of 3 beautiful princesses and complete 260 collapse arcade levels with a bonus of extra 100 levels, available upon collection of all the trophies.

• Four seasons
  
• Over 250 missions
  
• Fantastic characters
  
• Easy-to-Play for all ages
  
• Learn-as-you-play tutorial
  
• Awesome music
  

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Season Match 2 - October, 2008

Available at:
Big Fish
Steam



Bring the celebration of seasons back to the Fairytale Kingdom! Join forces with the Snow Queen and Princesses of Seasons to battle the despotic Prince January and save the Fairytale Kingdom from eternal winter! Solve clever puzzles to vanquish the forces of evil! Dazzle your senses with exciting hidden-object levels and thrilling minigames! The magical inhabitants of the Fairytale Kingdom are counting on you to deliver them from their icy oppression.

• Over 250 missions
  
• Strange, magical characters
  
• Unique, fantastical levels
  
• Unlock powerful artifacts!
  
• Hidden-object levels
  
• Easy-to-Play for all ages
  

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Season Match 3: Curse of the Witch Crow - December, 2010

Available at:
Big Fish
Steam



Enter a magical fairy-tale world and overcome the evil Crow Witch! After the Crow Witch captures the Months, the world may never see a New Year again! Help her desperate captives escape using your Match 3 talents! Master minigames and find helpful items in Hidden Object scenes in Season Match 3: Curse of the Witch Crow. Free the Months and save the day!

• Multiple minigames
  
• Over 250 missions
  
• Taro card fantastic characters
  
• Hidden-object scenes
  
• Learn-as-you-play tutorial
  

Season Match 3: Curse of the Witch Crow (Match-3)

Options include separate sliders for Music and SFX (no voiceovers), Custom Cursor, Show Tips and Full-screen.  Easy or Timed Mode (CANNOT be changed once you start playing!)

NOTE: I recommend playing on EASY (non-timed) mode unless you want the challenge of doing things within the time limit.  If you don't make it in time, you will lose all of the points you've accumulated on the level and have to start over.  There's no achievement for doing things timed in this third game, and you'll make more points overall, so there is no benefit to choosing the harder mode.

The Season Match series are not your standard swap-to-match-3 games.  Instead you will click on groups of three or more gems to make your matches.

Simple mechanics, and in theory random clicking will get you matches, but there needs to be strategy involved in order to pass the levels.

There is a Rules section on the intro page that explains everything, but I'll simplify them here:

Story Mode:

Level goals are at the bottom of the screen to the left of the timer with Crow's face on it. (You'll still be timed no matter which mode you choose - you just won't have to replay the level if you're playing on Easy.)  Break blocks, collect gems and coins, and collect an artifact on match-3 scenes.

Every other level will be a "hidden object" scene - Find 10 of x-item.  These are super-easy, and you'll be able to complete most of them in less than 30 seconds.  There is no penalty (or achievement-loss) for using a hint, but it takes a bit to recharge.

There are 12 chapters - one for each month - and at the beginning of each you'll do a spot-the-differences sequence (five each time), and at the end of each chapter you'll assemble a card by clicking two pieces to swap their positions until the puzzle is complete.  You can SKIP these, but you'll miss out on the points, and you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT skip the final puzzle-assembly or you will miss the end of the story!

Arcade:

Accessible right from the start, there are seven levels to complete for each of 12 characters - January through November, plus the Snow Queen (don't know why December's is not there.)  These need to be completed as quickly as possible, as you'll need to score a "sun" on each of the seven levels to unlock that character's castle.

Spells:

Each character has a spell that can help you achieve your level goals, from converting gems to explosions to slicing game pieces right off the board.  Charge the spells to collecting the "gems" the represent the ability.

Coins and Bonuses:

Coins are collected by making matches near them, and can be used to extend the time limit of a level, increase your score, and/or charge a magical artifact so that you can use it more quickly.

There are six types of random bonuses that will appear during gameplay, and like the coins, you use them by making matches near them.

Thoughts:

It's been a year since I played the first two games in the series, but it seems like I enjoyed this one more than the other installments. The storyline is thready at best, but deep beneath it all there was a question that kept me interested.

There are some gorgeous backgrounds, the sounds were done well, and the gameplay is solid.  I really liked the unique design of each Month, and enjoyed seeing all of their castles.  There are 31 achivements, and it has trading cards, as well.

These games routinely go on sale for 90% off (at Steam), and $0.49 each is an amazing price for these.  Recommended!