Destruct-O-Match II Tactics

THE AIM OF THE GAME

In Destruct-O-Match II, just like the original your goal is to group the coloured boulders together. You group the boulders together by removing other groups of boulders and allowing the boulders above them to fall down. Only groups of two or more boulders can be removed and the more boulders you clear at once the more points you score.

HOW IS DESTRUCT-O-MATCH II DIFFERENT FROM DESTRUCT-O-MATCH?

Although the two games are very similar there are a few differences, firstly and most obviously the bonus block, which can do a range of things from adding another row of boulders to destroying boulders, but I’ll discuss them more later. The other difference is the way that the bonus works, I’m not sure how it worked on the original but I’ve heard people say that it’s harder to score a bonus in Destruct-O-Match II, that tends to indicate that its been changed in some way.

BASIC CONCEPTS & STRATEGY IDEAS

1. Don’t start removing groups of boulders from the bottom of your screen straight away. Sometimes when you begin the game there are relatively large groups of one coloured boulder near the top, removing boulders from the bottom can break these large groups into smaller ones

2. Towards the end of a level when you only have a few rows left start looking to see how the boulders will move and what new combinations will be formed when you remove a column – this can seriously influence the order in which you remove groups of boulders

3. ORDER – throughout the entirety of the game you have to be thinking about how each move will change the location of boulders above it – will it destroy a group?

4. Especially in the early rounds, there is often a lot of one colour boulder. So, if you progressively remove the other colours you can sometimes finish up with a very large group of this colour left at the end to score you a lot of points.

POINTS BONUS

In Destruct-O-Match II you can score bonus points for totally clearing and almost completely clearing the board of boulders. The bonus is scored as follows:

Four boulders remaining – 50 points

Three boulders remaining – 100 points

Two boulders remaining – 150 points

One boulders remaining – 200 points

No boulders remaining – 250 points

Scoring one of these bonuses would obviously be really nice and a great addition to your score but you shouldn’t be altering your game tactics just to score one of these bonuses, especially since you should already be playing to remove as many boulders as you possibly can!

BONUS / SPECIAL BOULDERS

There are six bonus boulders, although the indestructible boulder isn’t much of a bonus and the morphing boulder can be a pain, but other than that they’re pretty good!

Fill boulder – when you remove this boulder as part of a group of boulders you will get another row of boulders added to the top of the screen. This can be really good because it can add additional groups of boulders for you to remove, however, you can sometimes get caught with it near the end of a level and it can create a whole bunch of boulders that you cannot remove which may prevent you from scoring a bonus. So basically I’d recommend removing it at the beginning to middle of a level so that you don’t get caught out at the end of the level.

Multiplier boulder – when you remove this boulder as part of a group of boulders you will earn three times the amount of points you would have scored if all the boulders were standard ones. It’s kind of like the bonus squares in scrabble! How to use this block to your greatest advantage is fairly obvious – try to place it in the largest group of boulders possible! However, just make sure you don’t trip yourself up and spend so much time trying to enlarge the group of boulders it’s with that you destroy other groups of boulders or make the board unplayable.

Overkill boulder – when you remove this boulder as part of a group of boulders it will also remove all the other boulders of that colour on the board. This can be really useful because it can remove boulders of that colour that are by themselves. However, it can do some rather nasty things to your board like destroy other boulder combinations. Something to keep in mind is that you only score points for the boulders in the same group as the overkill boulder so it’s a good idea to remove all the other groups of boulders the same colour as the overkill boulder to ensure that you are maximising your score.

Fire boulder – when you remove this boulder as part of a group of boulders it will destroy the boulders around it in an explosion. It is especially useful, and the only way, to remove indestructible boulders. If possible it’s best to remove indestructible boulders near the end of the game or when the indestructible and fire boulders are at the top of the playing board so that you remove the fewest normal boulders possible, removing those boulders is removing opportunities for you to score more points.

Morph boulder – when you remove this boulder you don’t actually get a bonus, but if you don’t clear it before the timer runs out then it will turn into an indestructible boulder! It’s also worth noting that if it’s in a group of three boulders and you don’t clear it in time all the boulders in that colour group will become indestructible boulders. Basically, as soon as you start a new level, find the morph boulder if there is one and get rid of it!

Indestructible boulder – this type of boulder cannot be removed by grouping, as with standard boulders, instead you have to use a fire boulder and explode it. Indestructible boulders can be a real pain, getting in the way of boulder groups etc. But it’s sometimes best to work around them because destroying them with a fire boulder can destroying normal boulders, which reduces your ability to score points in the level.

I hope this article was of some help to you, perhaps it just confirmed that you were on the right path. Either way, take the information in as best you can, every point of view and game tactic that you take on board and test out is another step closer to perfecting your own individual game technique!