Introducing Destruct-O-Match 3!

The first thing I noticed is that the annoying song is gone, replaced with a very interesting bouncy song, an annoying laugh at random, and a rather weird screeching. The song is definitely much better, I swear I've heard that laugh somewhere before, and I'm not quite sure about that screech. I'm quite certain, however, that it's the sound of a prehistoric pteridactyl. *whispers off screen* Did I spell that right? You don't know? Okay. *clears throat and continues*

The next thing you notice is that this game is definitely prehistoric looking; it includes bones, what looks to be some sort of ram, and some flying Neopets in the background that sound like... oh here's that word again. The big P one... can someone look that word up? We don't have the computers running? What kind of a news station is this?! *clears throat again*

Now the player comes in contact with several options: Start the game, view instructions, turn music off, turn visual effects off. Starting the game obviously brings a new menu up, instructions tells the player how to play the game, turning the music off makes that interesting music go away, and the visual effects means... no more creepy Neopets flying in the background. Let's continue; click the start button please.

Zen Mode- Classic stress-relief mode. We saw this effect in several games, like Sutek's Tomb. You get no actual level score or anything else, just pure fun smashing colored blocks for hours on end. This mode also means you don't get to send your score in for Neopoints, considering you don't get a score in the first place TO send in.

Classic Mode- Remember our old buddy, Destruct-O-Match 1, when we were very first introduced? Well, it's brought back into number three. That's right, it gives you a specific number of points you have to have before you can get to the next level and, even if you pass the number, you are not allowed to roll over those points into the next level. That means if you get "Next Level 120 of 100" those 20 extra points don't stroll onto level two with you. No fun for those of us who start having trouble in later levels.

Extreme Mode- This comes in from Destruct-O-Match 2. Remember when you had to click the little blocks really fast and keep them from reaching the top of the screen? Well, it's back again. Classic and just like last time, you only click once and the same-colored boxes touching it all disappear in a satisfying sound. The longer you go the faster the boxes bounce themselves up. No wonder they have a Zen mode; stress to the max in this case.

Double Trouble Mode- We're finally into the new aspect of Destruct-O-Match; this is the introduction of the new part that makes this number three. Instead of a full screen of blocks that you have to destroy in order to go into the next round, you now have the screen split in half. That's right; you get two columns with two "next level" spots on either side of the screen. The interesting part is that you only get to keep the two power-ups on the bottom of the screen; the player doesn't get four. The one column never affects the other column, and the power up affects both columns at the same time. I recommend doing one column first and then working on the next one after you finish that column; however, you can do it one column and then when that one is finished you can go onto the second one. Either way you choose to do it, you still get two columns you have to finish off.

Double Trouble Extreme Mode- This is the same as Double Trouble; however, it mixes two aspects of the game. Just as it sounds like it mixes Double Trouble mode and Extreme mode together into one part. You get two columns and they both start at a specific level and start to bump their way up to the top of the screen, getting faster and faster as the player progresses through the game.

That wraps up the important in-game stuff; what else is there? Well, there are several new aspects to the game other than the actual game part itself. For one, the blocks fit together perfectly and are much easier to distinguish from one another. The player still has to deal with the annoying aspect of yellow vs. orange being a bit too close in color for comfort, but other than that, the game is much more interesting and fun to play. There are also some new power ups to deal with and they all do different things.

~~The Scorchio face shows up as a wing on the bottom of the screen on one of the grey tablets. When pressed, the wing disappears and a Tyrannian Scorchio flies across the screen and mixes up all the blocks, giving you a new combination to work with.

~~The Tyrannian Grarrl (which is green for some reason...? Are they green? Oh well) makes a rather large footprint appear on one of the big grey tablets. When this option is pushed, the Grarrl stomps across the screen with a terrifying tendency to make all of the blocks jump up and down from the force of the Grarrl's weight on the ground below. This fella makes your last move come undone.

~~The Scamander. This guy only works in extreme mode even though you can see him in all the modes, from what I can remember. Anyway, all he does is make a noise and hang out on top of that row of blocks to stop them from going up anymore for a limited amount of time.

~~The Volcano is just like Destruct-O-Match one and two, where you got the option of blowing up several blocks in this block's vicinity. It just shows up as a picture of a pure black block with an erupting volcano in its center.

~~The Three Chicken Legs? This guy is a nice power up to get; make sure you click on a block below it or above it, clicking on just this block won't allow you to use it, as it's sort of a wild-card and can be destroyed with anything. If you destroy it with two blocks you're going to get six points; it triples your score.

~~The Wand. I'm still not sure if it's an actual wand or if it's some sort of Battledome item, I don't remember seeing it around the site. I'm sure it's actually a club of some sort, but for simplicity's sake I'm going to call it a wand. Either way, this wand shows up as one of the many colors, and after it's matched up with one or several of the other colors on the board the player may click on it. Clicking on it makes all of the other blocks of the same color on the game screen go poof. Be warned! If you had a lot of blocks on it of that color, you don't get the points for them; you only get the points for the blocks that you clicked on. For example, the wand happens to be on a grey block and it's matched up with one other block and you have fifty other grey blocks on the board. Once those two blocks are clicked, then all of the grey blocks, all fifty-two disappear, and you only get two points for the whole set. So be careful how you use this guy.

~~Gift-wrapped block. This block has what looks like four stripes, one from each direction, come together in the center. This block is what I'm going to term the wild-card as every so often it will change its color to another color that's still on the board. I choose to get rid of this block in the very beginning because it tends to annoy me more often than not, but it can also be used to your advantage at the very end if you have four blocks left and you want that extra bonus at the end.

~~Three Gifts One Block. Don't ask; I couldn't think of a more creative name for it. It's just a block with three small white blocks on it, it doesn't actually give you three prizes. Anyway all this block does is, once it's been cleared with the rest of the blocks in its color and as long as there is some room on the board, it will make one block appear in every row. It falls from the sky and lands all nicely on top of the other blocks in that row and you get another block to clear up.

Two Spears- An actual wild-card. This block can be used and destroyed with any other block color. :) Very, very useful.

Time Bomb- This is an older one from some of the other games, like several of the ones listed above. The Bomb starts out at 15 seconds and counts down slowly; when it hits 0, it makes the same noise it used to and turns into a 'dead' block that can't be destroyed unless it's with the volcano blast.

Well, that's about it. All I can say now is that with the visual effects off, you don't have to wait, hear, and watch the ram at the bottom of the screen hit the side of the wall to give you your options. It's a bit time-consuming and quite annoying. However, clicking this doesn't get rid of the visual effects in the game. That means you still get to watch the Scorchio flying across the screen if you get that power up, and to watch the Grarrl stomp angrily across your screen if you get that one. Overall, the game is very interesting and done up much nicer than the other ones. Good luck, fellow block-breakers, and don't worry. Hopefully they'll start to re-make the other games. Hopefully a game like Sutek's Tomb can be re-done. I mean, it makes a promise about some sort of treasure on the other side of the pyramid and nobody has ever made it there yet! I don't know about anybody else, but I'm disappointed.

Note- TNT has done a much better job explaining away the power ups better than I ever could, so please, if you need a visual of anything I've said above, please visit the game, click on Instructions, and then click More. The power ups are listed there with everything you need to know about them.