Ah, the piggy bank, that modest and eternal childhood institution. They taught us to conserve, the guilty pleasures of destruction and spending, and our major financial institution (until baby’s first checkbook). The piggy bank is a marvelous thing. To acknowledge this icon’s importance, 3D Reflex created Piggeez, the pattern matching piggy bank game.
Piggeez’s premise is simple, seen before in various other games. At the bottom of the screen are five piggy banks of different colors. Coins corresponding with the colors of the banks drop down, but not over the correct bovine. The object of the game is to swap out the coins so that they all match, and then tap the piggy bank so they all deposit – imagine Connect Four. You have to be fast, though, because another set of coins drop down every 30 seconds or so. If they touch the top of the screen, it’s game over. The game only comes in two difficulty modes, normal and hard, so hardcore players may not find much variety, but they won’t mind much.
The controls are easy to describe, but less so to execute. They’re not awkward awkward, but you have to move with speed to use them correctly. You can’t just drag and drop coins into their correct areas here. You have to press on one coin, and swap it out with another. This can lead to too much of the wrong type of coin piling up in a hurry. Fortunately, a hammer on the left side of the screen can shatter one of the banks in a pinch.
The game presents a solid, if not vigorous graphical palette. The coins spin and sparkle when you press or swap them between stacks. The piggy banks display a nice crumbling animation when you smack them with the hammer, and the time clock on the upper left is both good-looking and functional. However, is the bright colors that dominate the rest of the game are the standout visuals. It lacks the dynamics of other games, but still looks good.
Piggeez sounds solid and stable with a few amusing touches. The background music plays steadily, supported by a variety of sound effects. There’s the tinkling of the piggy bank as you knock it with the hammer, the clinking sound of the coins as they drop into the slots, and most humorously the snorting sound as you get a score multiplier. The amusing, well-done audio makes the game easy on the ears as well as the eyes. If oinking disturbs you, however, you’ll want to silence that feature.
Piggeez is fun, simple in concept, and challenging enough to stave off boredom. It’s a minor tribute to a icon of our youth, so there’s nostalgic sentiment thrown in as well. If this style of game play appeals to you, then Piggeez is a fine option. The $1 price tag doesn’t hurt either, offering a lot of entertainment for piggy bank change.
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