REVIEW
Fishdom Review 2023
First Released Mars 02, 2016
- Overall Rating : Negative
- Type : Puzzle, Match 3
- Category : Free to Play
- Contains Ads : No
- Micro Transaction : Yes
- Country : Global
- Content Rating : Everyone
- Mode : Single Player
- Published by: Playrix
Playrix comes with another 3 match game "fishdom", a mixed of mini puzzle games.
Imagine owning a virtual fish tank with 3D fish of diverse color, swimming around happily, expressing themselves through dialogues. Complete a collection of different fish tank of both fish and decorations. However all of this need to be purchase by with in game currency (gold) that you can obtain by beating levels of 3 match puzzle or feeding with you fish
Fishdom's Tutorial
A cute turtle welcomes you to fishdom. After asking for your name and forcing you to buy a fish, your ready to start playing. The level will alternate between a minigame puzzle and a 3 match game( the main game).
The puzzle games will be different from each other, games like comparison, calculation, choice or even tetris. I personally didn’t discover all of them as i’m stuck at a certain stage for days, i will comeback on this subject later on.
The main game is without any doubt, another 3 match game which Playrix is very familiar, like the scapes series(homescapes). But we are not here to talk about those games today. However the same rules and mechanics applies to all those 3 match games of the company.
The 3 match game will have different levels which increments once you beat it. Rules are simple clear the designated tiles under a number of turns and consider the level completed. Your reward will be calculated of how many move and bonus you have left on the board.
You will unlock all kind of bonus that will help you clear the board easily. From mines, bombs, lightning and other bonus that you can pick before a level starts. You can also obtain them from combining the right amount of same forms together depending on your luck.
Fishdom Levels
Fishdom stages have different difficulty, easy, hard and very hard. They are represented by a specific color namely green for easy, red for hard and purple for very hard. But in honestly, stages difficulty does not matter as each time you start a stage, the board will change the patterns position on the board which will make the stage either easy or very hard.
Depending on your luck or bad luck, a simple level could become a very difficult due to those random placements. Secondly the fact that game gives you a limited number of moves in a level, limits you in doing what you want. If you didn’t clear the requirements after your out of move, it’s game over. Unless you buy additional moves with in game currency(gems).
This is where the game draws the lines from being free to play to pay to win. As long as you can pay with gems you can always continue and clear any stage by buying additional moves. To make the matter even worst, bonuses are also buyable with ingame currency(gems). Making the levels look like a joke for cash players.
Last thing i want to mention is the heart mechanics that i find annoying, you lose life each time you fail a stage. You have a limited pool of 5 hearts that regenerates when it’s not full or you have infinite heart mode on. Those heart can also be bought via cash shop, everything seems to be in favour of those who pay.
” I’m up to a point where rng have been messing me up in a stage and losing all my hearts in a single level without making any progress. Wasting all my accumulated bonus after each game, making me a broke player that is stuck for days.”
On the bright side of fishdom, as long as your winning, you can play indefinitely levels after levels. Hearts take around 30 min to refill which is reasonable time to wait or to do something else till you can play again. The bonus are a good addition to help player clearing stage easily. Obtaining them during events or daily surprise chest is a good motivation for f2p.
Ultimately Fishdom has it’s charm as a collection game where you collect all kind of fish and decoration as you play levels and unlocking more fish and decoration at the same time. But those fish and decorations don’t give any advantages beside being an achievement system. Making the collection pointless at a point where you asking why should you buy those useless things.
Is Fishdom worth playing?
Unfortunately the answer is No, the game mechanics feel fraudulent. Even if you pay there’s no guarantee that you will be able to complete the level. The lack of free gems puts f2p on a tight spot as to continue and clear a close games require those precious gems. Lastly you won’t have anything to do once you are out of hearts. Fishdom is the kind of games that looks good but have bad mechanics that ruin the fun. Thank you for reading till the end, I will see you in another game review
Pros
- No Timer
- Play endlessly if your on a winning streak
- Noob Friendly
Cons
- RNG can mess you up
- Can't do anything in the game without a Heart
- No undo move
Curious Player Corner
Yes the game is free to play but have too many mechanics that encourage spending over skills of the player. In game currency is difficult to obtain for F2P. The game seems rig always having 1 or 2 move to complete a stage, pushing you to use your bonuses and gems.
Yes, the overwhelming advantage that you obtain by getting the battle pass is simply unfair to F2P. You can easily clear stages with always selecting bonuses or complete the stage by buying some moves with gems. Overall obvious P2W game.
Events sucks for F2P, as you lose points each time you lose a party. Making it near impossible to reach for the rewards in the chess on each checkpoint. Good luck trying to win as F2P.
