Drakolanche

There’s a dragon myth for just about every region of the world. Whether it’s the mighty fire-breathing beasts of western Europe or the slithering sea serpents of the east, all are universally recognised as dragons.

The same thing could be said of the match-three puzzler. Developers can dress them up however they like and stick elements of any other genre to them, yet they always retain that sense of (over) familiarity.

Drakolanche combines these two well-worn elements: applying a dragon theme to a rather traditional match-three puzzle game. Unsurprisingly, it’s rather forgettable as a result.

We’re in Bejeweled territory here. I know what you’re thinking: did we ever leave?

Your objective is to match three or more dragon eggs (the substitute for gems) according to their colour in order to make them disappear. This can, in turn, set off a chain reaction of matches as the blocks above drop in to fill the newly vacated space.

More elaborate matches gain you special point-scoring or egg-busting blocks. In addition, there’s a cute little dragon at the side of the screen who powers up every now and then, unleashing an egg-frying attack when prompted.

It’s all competently executed, though decidedly generic. Developer Motin Games has attempted to make up for this by offering a slight twist on the formula. Besides the standard Classic rule-set, there's Avalanche mode.

Here you get to affect the orientation and positioning of your eggs by turning your handset around. While this makes for a welcome change from the usual fixed-grids, it’s something we’ve seen done numerous times before.

Match-three puzzlers live and die by two main things: tight and polished gameplay mechanics and a noteworthy twist to make them stand out from the densely-packed crowd. While Drakolanche achieves a measure of success through solid play, though, its trump card is too familiar to make much of a lasting impression.