I still play it. It's the game that all the college kids are playing atm apparently. There are literally hundreds of people on my Facebook list who do. I play on FB sometimes for the free powerups, lol.
I hate this game. I was 100% sure I'd never play another Bejeweled clone for the rest of my life. It's very addicting, they did a very good job with it.
It's the new game for middle-aged women. All my aunts talk about it on Facebook. This is enough reason for me to stay the hell away.
in the interest of promoting some serious discussion on this game - my friend has been playing it night and day and she's fairly non-gamer (although she was addicted to farmville & draw something years ago). Due to it's chart dominance I decided to give it a spin. Like most everyone else here, I am bored to death of Bejeweled and it's various knock-offs. I've played a couple here and there and for the most part, I have to say if I never play a proper Bejeweled knock-off ever again for the rest of my life it will still be way too soon. That being said, the design of this game builds very nicely off of the foundation set by the inspiration and makes it into it's own thing. The way you are led into the depth of the gameplay rules is extremely well-paced, and the difficulty in level designs actually ratchets up so perfectly that you don't even realize that you have been hooked. But before you know it you are back for "just one more try" to try and kill the level you have been stuck on. But probably the biggest thing with this game is that they have really aced it with the free-to-play system they are using. I've never DL'd a game, in recent memory, where I've felt that they really give you so much access to gameplay while asking for so little in return. The game just doesn't feel gimped in any way. Oh sure, it gives you plenty of tempting options to spend a little (or a lot if you are deep-pocketed) to stretch out the experience, but as a gamer I've never felt the urge to cash in for a cheat with the game. But yes it gets tempting. I'm going to continue playing for awhile as supposedly there is a point were you hit the closest thing to a pay wall that it his (I think you have to do some facebook begging or something) and I'd like to think that is where I'll draw the line. I dunno how far out that is.. we'll see. Aesthetically, the game is pretty uninteresting but it works for what it is. Not my cup of tea but I appreciate the audience they are trying to appeal to, and although it's fairly junky I suppose it's consistent. The deep thing here is that there is plenty of psychology going on under the hood with the game, and I give them respect for that. A ton of balance and tweak went into this: and in these times when F2P is pretty much a cardinal sin, that is really saying something when a game comes by that is actually fun, puts a spin on a really done-to-death formula, and doesn't feel like you are gonna be nickel-and-dime'd. TA will likely never give this game much attention for the obvious reasons, but puzzle gamers looking for some decent design will definitely enjoy this, I'd say.
This is definitely a "different" game from the games usually publicized here at TA. I've been playing it on my iPod due to all the Facebook hype about it, and its pretty cool. There's a bunch of cool mechanics, but as stated before, the F2P is a little risky. There are some levels that are near-impossible and seem like they're a paywall, although they're possible after a good weeks of trying. Its a fun, addicting, "different" game that pages you well and steadily introduces new, fun mechanics. 275 or so levels, all free. I'd give it a spin and try it out, I find myself oddly going to back it once or twice a day. One flaw is that you have lives that friends on Facebook can send you or you can wait a certain amount of time for the lives to automatically "refill". You can have a limit of 5, and once you run out, you can get more from Facebook and wait. Obviously, if you lose a game, you lose a life, and there's some IAP powerups to avoid this, but I've found the game tolerable with the lives and IAPs.
There are a lot of people out there who can't wait for lives. Consequently, the game has been in the top 3 on the top grossing charts for months now. Like Midian said, CCS attracts many people who have a lot of money to spend. Literally everyone with an iDevice who doesn't know that much about iOS games is playing it (aka 99% of the customer base). It's also been in the top 5 free games since the week it came out. The Facebook sync really was a great idea.
Here is the thing: the levels and drops are randomized, and I'm convinced that no matter how smart you are, the harder levels require many many attempts without buying power-ups. Now there are a lot of people willing to try the levels a lot of times...my wife is one of them, but I gave up once the levels got too brutal in that regard. Jewel Mania is extremely similar and better IMHO. You can earn power-ups (well some, and slowly) and while it gets brutal like Candy Crush, it takes about twice as many levels to start feeling like an IAP machine. Most of us on this forum, we want to feel like we can solve a level by being smart. Not by repeating a level 15 times, waiting for the attempts timer to allow more tries, and until the stars, moon and planets align just so. Jewel Mania takes longer to start feeling like an IAP trap, but it does ultimately get there. I think these games are fine to try and enjoy, as long as you can put em way once you hit the wall. If you cant walk away when the time comes, your going to get frustrated.
Wow Level 35 was a total joke, so hard... a miracle my wife and I could pass it after trying maybe 50 times. =) And Level 36 - it says to ask 3 of your Facebook friends to help or pay $0.99 to continue. Deleted.
Clash of Clans reportedly makes $2.4m on a daily basis. It's number two on the top grossing. Candy Crush Saga has been number one on the the top grossing for months and has millions and millions of players who play and pay on Facebook. CoC has no Facebook client. So, does that mean CCS makes well over $2.5m a day? Crazy shit. The game doesn't even have virtual currency. Just a lot of impatient people out there with a LOT of money.
No kidding? They must be drowning in the cash. I've played it and am still playing it off and on - it's pretty fun but I think I'll be hitting a wall soon. I've seen a lot of woman and people I'd assume to not normally play games playing it on the bus.
Everyone at the office is playing it. It is either play Candy Crush or become a pariah, and office politics being what it is...