Columns and Tetris are my favorite puzzle games of all times, and those that have inspired too many other games out there. So when it came down to playing Orchidia, the only problem was finding the time to sit and play enough of it for this review.
The game takes us through a fantasy story where the kingdom of Orchidia is under control of an evil character – Orchus – who has been blocking the river everywhere. The player must clear the blockages by matching three or more flowers of the same kind while completing any other goals specified for each level.
The flowers can come in groups of three, in pairs or all alone, from the top of the screen (downstream). Matching three or more flowers of the same kind makes them disappear. The game is easily played with Tetris-like mechanics: using the arrow keys to move the flower clusters, X or Z to rotate them, and the down arrow to pull them down. Alternatively, you can use the mouse to control everything, but I found it to be a bit clumsy.
The goals for each level vary. Sometimes you are only required to match a certain number of flowers, other times you must free a creature from the river by clearing all the flowers around it, and others where you must clear a certain number of ice blocks or leaves. You must also collect the 12 magical orchids that will restore the kingdom’s magic and get rid of the bad guys by clearing everything around them.
The orchids will have special properties. They appear as special pieces instead of a regular flower piece if you have gathered all the either petals of the Power Up Flower, which is done by matching four flowers or more. Once you’ve matched three flowers near the orchid, the special effect is released. These include clearing a row or column, clearing all of the same flower in the entire puzzle field, clearing whatever it’s touching or adding bonus time to your timer.
In some levels, there are little streams flowing in from the sides of the river, sometimes bringing in ice blocks, leaves and even other flowers. This adds quite a bit of challenge, since you must drop your pieces while avoiding the objects that will clutter your puzzle field, since they will automatically attach to the piece that touches them.
Your helpers, a rubber ducky and a fairy-godmother type of character named Doriella will help you with your adventure, giving you hints and telling you more about the kingdom and why this is happening throughout the 60 levels of the story mode.
The other game mode is entitled Orchidia Eternal, which is just like Tetris: play for as long as you can until eventually your flowers reach the top of the screen.
The graphics in the game are very colorful and pretty. The flowers and animals are very cute, and the effects for releasing a new special item are quite nice. The character artwork is nicely done as well, and the dialog scenes in between levels reveal bit by bit of the whole story. The music is really great, and it doesn’t get on your nerves the way puzzle game music sometimes does – quite the contrary actually!
I think that the only thing that I could really complain about is how the level difficulty in story mode doesn’t seem to be consistent. Sometimes you get an extremely easy goal, then on the next level you are scrambling with pieces with a blockage half way up the puzzle field or streams bringing in tons of ice blocks, and then back to something more relaxing once again. However, it keeps you on your toes and makes the game more challenging and fun.
While it may look childish and girly, beneath the cuteness Orchidia is a solid puzzle game with enough little details to keep you hooked for hours. It seems I’ve gotten myself another “match-three” that I will be going back to for years to come.
Special thanks to Linda MacKeller and Slam Games for providing the full version of this title.