Alexey’s Dwice
Developer: WildSnake™ Software
Demo: 60 Levels Only + Arcade Mode
Platform: PC
Genre: Casual Match Puzzle
Official Game Site: WildSnake™ Software
Price: $19.95 USD
System Requirements:
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 98/NT/Me/XP/Vista/2000
CPU: 733 MHz
RAM: 128 MB
Hard Drive: 30 MB
Graphics: DirectX 7 or later
WARNING: Do not play this game when scheduled to work the next day! You’re never going to leave this game alone once you start. From the developer of Tetris®, Alexy Pajitnov has teamed up with WildSnake™ Software to bring you Alexy’s Dwice. With this action puzzle game, you’ll find a whole new level of casual gaming.
From WildSnake™ Software’s Website:
“Alexey’s Dwice is a game of action matching where you are on a race against the clock to save a village from an impending avalanche. Match together the icy blocks that are the same shape or isolate them from their chilly friends to eliminate them from the board. Move fast because more blocks are always sliding down the mountain. Collect special power ups, like explosives, fire lines, and ice picks to help clear the blocks.”
When you start the game you will see a set up similar to Tetris. (See screenshot.) Various shapes and colors of icy looking blocks start falling down towards the three homes which represent an avalanche heading towards a small village. It is your job to match the shapes and colors to eliminate them from the avalanche before it hits the village. As a minimum requirement to eliminate the blocks out of the avalanche, you must match the shapes – it doesn’t matter what colors you match up as long as the shapes are the same. Now, if you match the shape and colors, you will get bonus points. Want to score even more bonus points? Go ahead and match the same shapes and colors multiple times in a row to gain huge points!
I was surprised as to how addicting this game became. You start out at a relatively slow and easy pace with level one. As you progress through the game there are more shapes, colors, and the speed of the avalanche falling increases. Of course there are bonus blocks that you can melt to slow down, burn, or ice pick away the avalanche. I started getting into the harder levels of the game and I couldn’t put it down. I kept telling myself, “Just one more level.” There is something about the increasing speeds and difficulty level of finding matches that keeps you going. Pretty predictable coming from the creator of Tetris®, right?
So I’ve been going on and on about how this game plays, but I’ve failed to even tell you about the arcade mode that you can play. Arcade mode is never-ending. You’re basically competing against the clock as far as you can to hold off the avalanche. Once you’ve lost the round you can optionally submit your score on an online score-board which displays worldwide statistics of other player’s scores.
I thought long and hard as to what I thought this game was missing. I feel that the game was very well put together as it is right now, but I knew there was something missing from it. My long thought process pulled together that maybe the developers could have added an online multiplayer mode where you could compete against someone else online. There are already statistics online of top scores, so why not take it one step further and let you literally compete against someone in real-time, right?
Overall I would recommend this game to anyone who likes challenging puzzle games. It’s very well put together, challenging, addicting, and has the support from many gamers across the world. Go ahead and download the trial and give your go at it! Once you start, you’ll never want to quit.
