Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

Flowerz is the equivalent to what Hexic HD was for the Xbox Live Arcade. It's free. Almost everyone can play it. But many will largely ignore it due to the fact it isn't very well advertised. They're also both very well made, yet simplistic puzzle games with steep difficulty curves. Oddly, you can also download Hexic Rush for WM7- but that's not offered for free which struck me as bizarre.

Like hundreds of other puzzlers on the market, Flowerz is all about matching objects in rows of three or more to score points and play as long as possible. Though this is not to be mistaken for a Bejeweled clone, you do not swap and rotate objects; you strategically place them. There are flowers of multiple colors, and only flowers of the same color can be matched in horizontal or vertical rows. Making a row clears them from the board as you might have already figured out.

Other more in-depth mechanics exist, such as flowers with inner colors and one-time use items. When a multicolored flower is matched in a row, the outside layer is removed and the inner color takes it's place. Items in the game are shovels and butterflies. The shovels can be used to move a flower anywhere else on the board so long as that space is free. Butterflies can change the color of a flower if you choose to do so. These minor mechanics are introduced at a nice pace and never completely overwhelm the player. Still, once you break into levels 10+ the difficulty begins to spike as the board continues to be filled from bad moves and mistakes.

Much like chess, you can only blame yourself for failing in Flowerz. Unlike many “puzzle” (matching) games, where luck is a vital element of play- Flowerz is almost completely up to the player. This adds a bit of a strategic element into gameplay, but most effective methods have been long discovered by veteran players.

Considering it's absolutely free, obviously I recommend everyone download Flowerz. What I'm curious about though is if there's a future for the franchise. Much like how Hexic has turned into a moderately profitable series, I wonder if we'll ever see a sequel to Flowerz with some additional gameplay elements, modes and even versus. This is one puzzle game that could have easily benefited from multiplayer- whether it be cooperative play or head to head battles.

Regardless of the price, Flowerz is actually one of the better games on the service. I definitely wish I had discovered this one sooner before making some of the silly purchases I did. It's not exactly a ridiculously innovative or deep game, but it's fun and addicting. For a puzzle game that's really all you need to happily pass the time.