[iOS]10000000 - Dungeon Raid fans should check this out

[Gratch]

Awful name aside, 10000000 has become a strong frontrunner for my iOS GOTY at this point.  It combines a unique style of match-3 gameplay (think Popcap's Chuzzle) with awesome retro graphics and a ton of RPG elements.  Took a little while to get the hang of, but I absolutely cannot stop playing it now.  A couple "a ha" moments for me as I started:

1.  There are no HP, per se.  Rather, when an enemy hits you, it knocks you further back in the corridor.  Shields and armor prevent you from being knocked back by enemy attacks, so upgrading these are critical if you want to be able to survive longer.

2.  Don't be stingy about using items...you'll get plenty.  I got in the habit of saving items and using them as a last resort, but have started using multiple items now in every game.

I'm only up to around 3,000,000 at this point and can see this one lasting for a lot longer (10000000 gets you out of the dungeon, hence the name).  Two huge thumbs up from me.

EDIT:  Beat this today, took just under 4 hours (3:56).  Everything maxed out, high score just over 13,500,000.  There's one objective I can't seem to beat (match 50 tiles in under 50 seconds).

[The Grue]

Couple of questions:

1) What does shield get me?  I see that it raises the armor, but what happens when it goes back down to 0?  What is it doing for me when it's not 0?
2) Why when I hit a goal does it not give me the option to rerun?  I have to go back home and then run down to the dungeon...annoying.
3) Is food the only way to make more progress to the right?

[wonderpug]

1) When you get hit by a monster, your little guy gets knocked further left, i.e., you lose time. If you have shields stored up, they absorb damage first (and get used up) to prevent you from getting knocked left.

2) You have it right, but since you get a prize for completing a goal, odds are there will be something new for you to unlock back at the castle.

3) You can get upgrades in the upper right room that move you further right for wood & stone matches, for 5-in-a-rows, and... maybe more?  You also advance a bit in between encounters, so if you kill and unlock things really quickly you can get ahead just from that.  Oh, there's also an upgrade that makes food bonuses more potent.

[rittchard]

IF someone had told me that I'd be addicted to a game with semi-unresponsive controls and bad old-school graphics (Pitfall anyone?), I'd laugh at them.  Seriously this game looks horrible on the iPad.  But holy crap, it is really addictive.  There are some things I'm not thrilled with (graphics can be retro style but still look classy, these are just bad/lazy in places, such as the pink and orange circles which I have no idea what they represent) but all in all it's a joy to play if you like these kind of hybrid matching/RPG games.  The best part is how no matter how poorly you do during a run, you can make some "progress" by earning xp/gold/wood/stone to help improve yourself.  Sometimes I'll actually get higher scores when my intention was just to "farm" some more wood.  Go figure!  Anyway, the most important thing I think they need to do is get better responsiveness on the UI.  Because of the split second nature of the gameplay at times, it can really suck to miss something because the correct movement didn't occur.

[wonderpug]

Ritt, when you have balls in your hand it means you can thrust some of your magic in your foe's face to encourage them to go down.

[Bullwinkle]

This game feels like a pick-up-and-play game, but every time I go to play it for five minutes, an hour goes by.

[Gratch]

This game feels like a pick-up-and-play game, but every time I go to play it for five minutes, an hour goes by.

True dat.  Unfortunately, there's not much reason to keep playing once you've escaped the dungeon.  No new quests, nothing to unlock...the only thing you can do is shoot for a higher score.

[wonderpug]

Yeah, I've lost my incentive to play now that I've beaten it.  Still a really fun 5 hours for my $2.

Hopefully the developer's success will drive him to add some more content.

[rittchard]

Wow you guys all escaped?  Did you end up unlocking and upgrading everything in the castle or did you complete it far before then?

[wonderpug]

You pretty much have to unlock everything in order to get the multipliers and such necessary to hit the score goal.  A few of the potions in particular are essential.

[Gratch]

Wow you guys all escaped?  Did you end up unlocking and upgrading everything in the castle or did you complete it far before then?

I had unlocked everything except a couple of the shield upgrades when I escaped.

I think I just had a lucky run when I hit that 13 million score.  I've only been able to get up to 9 million in the hour'ish I've spent with it since.

[Misguided]

You pretty much have to unlock everything in order to get the multipliers and such necessary to hit the score goal.  A few of the potions in particular are essential.

Actually, I think you could beat the game without ever using a potion. I hit about 7 mil before the last rank (so without the highest score multiplier) without any of the score boosting potions or invulnerability. 10 mil should be doable.