(Review) 10,000,000

The original version of the review for this can be found here. This is me redoing some older articles while not trying to cover up the past of The Videogame Backlog’s backlog.

I’m not going to wax nostalgia for 10,000,000; it’s only six years old.  Granted it looks very outdated, but I really enjoy the look. “Why wouldn’t they make it all super-fancy though?” If I were to venture a guess, I’d say it was because they wanted to create a challenging puzzle game with some RPG mechanics that fit nicely in the game which then helps create a sense of progression to help keep you playing and not get bored because you’re simply doing the same thing over and over again. (Don’t forget to take a breath after that run-on sentence.) Does it work? Do the mechanics get tiring at all? Is it really “casual” like they label it? Let me break it down for you.

Gottah match’em all!

To set the mood; you’re stuck in a dungeon for no good reason other than to have an excuse to have you try to escape it. You want out and the only way out is to get a score of 10,000,000 in one round which then opens the door to your freedom. I don’t feel it’s possible to get that high of a score when you first start, but that’s where all of the boarded up doors come in. As you play the game you gather gold, wood, stone and experience. You collect all of this by moving the rows and columns left/right and up/down respectively until you get a match of three or more in a row. You’ll match up swords and magic wands to attack bad guys and keys to unlock doors and chests. Match up wood and stone to collect wood and stone obviously.

There are some sweet bonuses to be purchased, but you’ve got to get enough experience first! The best part is that once you’re done here, you basically don’t need it anymore.

When you fail to keep your character moving on the top of the screen due to the difficulty of the monster or not having any keys to open a door or chest, you get pushed to the left and lose. The faster you defeat enemies and unlocked things the further to the right you move. There is a certain threshold to the right that is the sweet spot and you get a massive bonus if you can stay in there. It’s tough though. Items you get from unlocked chests can help you by giving you keys to instantly unlock obstacles or weapons to chuck at the baddies. It all works rather well together. I often forget to use the items until it is too late… so there’s that.

The further you progress, the more options you have. The more options you activate, however, the tougher the challenge will be. All in good fun though right?

Using the wood and stone you’ve gathered, you’ll be able to open boarded up the rooms that are in the dungeon with you. When you unlock them, you’re able to buy upgrades to your abilities. You can upgrade the strength of your physical and magical attacks. You can beef up your defense as well so you won’t get pushed back as much when a monster hits you. You can increase the amount of goods you get when you match up. One of the rooms you’ll unlock is the Alchemist that adds a risk/reward element to your play. You can choose to boost the amount of stone and wood gained at the expense of all experience. That seems rough, but you’ll need a bit of those to upgrade everything. Maybe you’ll want to boost your score, but in turn you’ll have to make the enemies harder as well. You get the gist of it. (I guess if you want more of a challenge you can put them all on…)

Overall, 10,000,000 is a solid puzzle game. The mechanics are sound and the gameplay is fun. There’s progression in the game that helps keep you playing and takes you all the way to the end. That being said, once I beat it, it was tough to want to jump back in and play a round or two like Tetris does for me for me. It’s a great fit for a budget puzzle game if you’re looking for one. Heck, if this interests you enough, you can pick up the bundle of both this and the sequel You Must Build A Boat for under $7 which is a pretty sweet deal.

Further Reading on 10,000,000: Official Page / Steam / Twitter

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