Review: Chuzzle Deluxe

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: E - Everyone
My Rating: Everyone
Genre: Match 3
License: Commercial
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2006
Review Published On: May 19th, 2021
Played on: Thaddeus & Giles

Available on:

Windows

Available from:

Steam

Areas of Concern:
  • Nothing of note


How to Save and Pause:

Each player has their own profile. Within these profiles, each game mode saves your progress when you quit or return to the menu. However, these saved games are temporary, and can only be resumed once.

To pause the game during play, open the menu by pressing ESC or clicking on the menu button in the lower left corner.

Time needed per session:

This is a fairly short game, so you dont need to worry about setting aside time to play it.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
Theres nothing to worry about here - just a bunch of cute little fuzzballs popping when you match them.

Screenshots

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A chubby chuzzle blocks the way

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Racing against the clock

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Chuzzle puzzle solving



Game Overview

Chuzzle Deluxe is an adorable little Match 3, though there are a few differences from the standard design. Instead of matching tiles or gemstones, youre working with these cute fuzzballs called Chuzzles. You also dont need to worry about aligning them to columns or rows, as any group of three or more Chuzzles with the same fur color will match, regardless of the shape their formation takes. When they form a group, they pop into pure magic that floats through the air and returns to the beaker on the left side of the screen. Once the beaker is full, it releases all of the collected Chuzzle energy is a shower of sparkles and the next level begins.

While being able to move entire columns and rows makes it easier to find a match than the usual mechanics found in these games, no game would be fun if there wasnt an obstacle or two to get in your way. The main obstacle here is the size of the gameplay area: its only 6x6, which makes it easy to run out of possible moves. When this happens, you need to shuffle the game in order to continue. You have a limited number of shuffles, and thus theres a limit on how long you can play.

The two other obstacles interfere with your ability to move the Chuzzles around. Normally, you move an entire column or row, with the Chuzzles on the ends wrapping around to the other side of the playfield. But large Chuzzles, who are twice the size of their brethren, require you to shift both columns or rows that they occupy. They also cant fit under the sides of the playfield, limiting how far you can move them.

The final obstacle are locks. These randomly appear and grab a Chuzzle, anchoring it to that location. As long as its locked down, you wont be able to move the column and row its in. Locks can quickly make it impossible to make a useful move, so you need to get rid of them fast. All it takes to remove a lock is to include the trapped Chuzzle in a match, which is often easier said than done.

While thats basically all this game entails, its still a fun little timewaster. If you enjoy simpler games like the first Bejeweled, then youll probably like this one too.

Points of Interest

Four game modes

Similar to games like Bejeweled 3, there several ways to pop your Chuzzles. The original game is simply known as Classic Chuzzle, with the other three modes changing up the formula a little. The Speed Chuzzle mode adds a timer, though this doesnt limit how long your game lasts. When the timer gets full, a new lock is added somewhere on the playfield and the timer simply resets. Matching Chuzzles also turns back the clock, so move quickly.

The other two modes are Mind Bender and Zen mode. The Mind Bender mode is a puzzle mode where youre trying to arrange the Chuzzles into a specific pattern. They dont match in this mode, so just focus on moving them around. The Zen mode is just a quiet, endless game without pressure, levels, or locks. Large chuzzles still appear however.

Earnable trophies

This game doesnt have support for Steam features like achievements or trading cards, but it does feature is own brand of achievements called trophies. Youll earn these by popping lots of Chuzzles, completing various challenging tasks, and so on. These are linked to your in-game profile, so you can earn them over and over again.

Thats about it

You can get a lot more gameplay out of $5 these days, so there might not be enough here to keep players entertained for very long.

Concerns and Issues

None.

This is an incredibly cute and simple game without any problems. The closest you could get to an issue would be the way you pop the Chuzzles, but its pretty clear that these floofballs enjoy popping into stardust.