Fishdom. Marine Dream

• Pros: beautiful graphics, calming music, clever level difficulty, great screensavers.

• Cons: unoriginal gameplay.

Have you ever dreamt of having a wonderful aquarium? Have you always wanted to watch exotic fish floating in the jungle of underwater life? Fishdom provides a superb opportunity to design the ultimate aquarium! Earn money by progressing through challenging match-three puzzles and buy beautiful fish and gorgeous decorations for your aquatic sims.

The gameplay of Fishdom is enjoyable, yet not particularly unique. It is a nice combination of match-three and simulation. In some ways it resembles Cradle of Rome or Cradle of Persia, but an aquarium must be built instead of a village.

First in Fishdom, a wonderful tank with a “Pirate’s Treasure” theme and some money to buy fish to inhabit it are provided. Next, one must match three or more pieces of the same kind to progress through the game and earn money. Matches need to be made over the golden tiles to complete the level. Matches must be made twice over silver tiles to clear them. Some tiles are locked by chains, or even double chains, so be sure to make matches over them once or twice accordingly.

In addition to money, you can also earn power-ups! Burning five or more tiles at a time earns different explosives. Firecrackers, bombs, and dynamite destroy all the pieces in a one-, two-, and three-tile radius, respectively. Finally, the most potent power-up is lightning. When swapped with another tile, it will clear all the tiles of this kind on the board.

But, don’t forget about the time limits! If the board is not cleared in time, the level must be restarted. To pause the game, simply click on the pretty green eye in the left upper corner and enjoy your fish. They are very cute! Watch as they enjoy the plants and shells you bought for them.

Perhaps one of the most pleasant aspects of the game is shopping! There are about 100 items for sale to make the life of your finny pets enjoyable and cozy. Be sure to take into account the three criteria of your tank’s progress: fish, beauty and comfort. In the upper left corner you can see three gauges indicating your progress. In the shop there are three bars for the three criteria: fish, beauty and comfort. The fish bar provides you with gorgeous fish, even seahorses. The beauty bar is filled with different underwater plants, shells and sculptures. Finally, the comfort bar offers lights, heaters, filters and food to make your sim-pets comfortable.

If you decide you don’t like an item you bought for your fish, just drag it on the trash bin for a partial refund. Rearranging the decorations in your aquarium is also a possibility

After each level, you are granted not only cash for burning tiles, but also a score bonus for the number of burnt matches, plus a time bonus depending on how quickly the level was completed. But, that’s not all! Filling all three gauges for fish, beauty and comfort wins a bronze trophy and unlocks a new tank. Then, you can start arranging this new tank or continue decorating the old one until you win silver and gold trophies, which grant extra cash bonuses. There are three beautiful tanks: “Pirate’s Treasure,” “Coral Reef” and “Lost Atlantis.” Also, any of your tanks may be used as a beautiful screensaver.

The visuals in Fishdom are great, and the picture is colorful and bright. The sound provides a calm and relaxing marine atmosphere. The level difficulty is cleverly arranged and generally average, but the game can get old after playing it for too long. Great screensavers are a positive feature of the game. All in all, Fishdom is a pleasant and unique small world for fans of exotic marine life and pretty decorations.