The Rise of Atlantis

The Good
The goal in this game is to reassemble the seven artifacts that comprise the Altar of Poseidon. Each artifact is linked to a different ancient civilization and is broken into pieces. The pieces are on a game board of coloured tiles and they are recovered by clearing the tiles beneath them so that they 'fall' to the bottom of the game area where they magically reassemble themselves.

That's the basic game. It's easy to pick up and it's quite addictive. Each civilization is split onto multiple small stages which for me is great because I can fill the odd ten minutes while waiting for a meal to cook or while having a coffee break, in practice though it's usually half an hour and my coffee gets cold.

I liked that it was a series of short puzzles that I could ply for a while and then walk away from. I liked that the game was timed and that bonuses are awarded for finishing quickly, there's a fine line between going for the bonus and playing longer to score more points.

There are bonus items to collect, bombs that can be used to clear an area of stubborn tiles, lightning bolts that wipe out all tiles of a different colour, time bonuses, a swap item that will exchange two adjacent tiles and the occasional extra life. All standard stuff but having them gave me options, do I use them to finish quickly or do I go for a 'pure' solution and try not to use them?
Completing chains longer than three tiles powers up a sun bonus, when fully charged it zaps a dozen or more random tiles which can be useful to finish a game quickly and in some stages it's possibly the only way to completion.

All of the above can be found in other games, for me the highlight of this game is the level design. Again it's nothing that you won't find elsewhere but here it just works, and that's down to the puzzle element.
In many levels there are locked tiled, these can only be cleared after they have been unlocked by making them part of a chain. Some tiles are double locked. Often these are placed along the bottom of the screen and/or beside the artifact piece that has to be recovered.
Then there are the frozen and double frozen pieces. These too can only be unfrozen by making them part of a chain, they differ from locked pieces in that locked pieces fall to fill voids below them as tiles beneath them are matched, frozen tiles stay in place. This increases the puzzle / strategy element because if the frozen pieces stay at the top of the screen it's possible to have gaping voids beneath then which limits the game possibilities.
Add to this cunningly shaped game areas, stone walls and artifact pieces that are right against the sides of the game area so they have to be moved to avoid obstacles and you've got a real puzzler on your hands.

The artwork is good, the background music is pleasant, optional and above average, and the difficulty increases at just the right rate.

There are seventy-seven stages in the game and when the player's journey around the ancient Mediterranean civilizations is complete the game can still be played, one of the tips I skipped through says the journey can continue in what I guess is a kind of gaming lap of honour.

The Bad
In between stages the game insists on giving the player factoids about the ancient civilization and game tips. The game tips state the blindingly obvious "Save your bonus items for difficult stages" plus they are repetitive, and for me the factoids just slowed the game down.
Minor stuff that I would have liked to turn off but instead just clicked through

The Bottom Line
A simple, addictive, and well executed game that's a pleasant change from solitaire. It 'won't rock your world' but then it's not meant to and unlike some casual games it can be played and replayed. Most levels took under ten minutes to complete, three and a bit being my fastest but that was one of the easier levels.