Overview – developed by Zoo Corporation and published by Eastasiasoft, Pretty Girls Tile Match is the latest entry in the Mahjong Solitaire sub-series. However, this title has a unique twist on the formula as the player needs to match 3 tiles to clear them away. This title is available on Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation family of systems, with a link to each version of the game available at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Pretty Girls Tile Match that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. I will be skipping the story segment as there is no plot for this release, so I will be going directly into covering the gameplay of Pretty Girls Tile Match.
Gameplay – this release is an expansion on the traditional Mahjong Solitaire, where the player must clear all tiles on the field but with a twist. In this entry of the series, the player must match sets of three tiles to clear them away, rather than just matching pairs like the other games. This makes Pretty Girls Tile Match the most unique title in the tile Solitaire series.
The game is made up of 120 stages, split between the 6 different girls that the players can select from. When in a stage, there will be a unique tile layout for that stage, with random patterns of tiles that need to be cleared away. In order to clear away the tiles, the player can select the lit up tiles, with inaccessible tiles greyed out when another is on top of them.
To help the player accomplish this, the player can select up to 7 tiles at any one time into their “hand”, clearing them away when a set of 3 have been collected. If there aren’t any sets available, the player has a few different options they can use. These options are shuffle to rearrange the tiles, undo to put a tile back, move to grab an inaccessible tile and hold to keep a tile for later on the side.
Now even though this is a rather casual puzzle title, it is possible to fail the stages in two different ways. The first is by not being able to make any moves, having exhausted all of the assist items. The other is to run out of time, as there is a timer that will count down between tile clears. When a set is cleared, the timer will reset and give the player more time to complete the stage.
During a stage, the player will earn points for each successful tile match, with a combo meter that counts down between set clears. When the tile clears are chained together, a combo will be built up and increase the bonuses that players can earn. This makes speed important for players who want to reach a high score, as the combo timer will deplete at a faster rate the higher the combo.
Outside of the stages in the main mode, there is the dressing room/diorama mode that players can play with, which allows them to create settings and images with the different girls. There is also the shop where players can use points earned by clearing stages to get new costumes, which can be added to the girls in the dressing room to change their looks when viewing them.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to move onto the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – this title uses a cursor system, with button inputs for the different functions that are available. This works fairly well when connected to a TV, with a decent speed for the on screen arrow which has an adorable panda head on it. However, the best way to play this game is in handheld mode using the touch screen, as it allows for faster more precise inputs.
Difficulty – there is a rather moderate difficulty curve to this title, with the randomised tile patterns that can be used for the different layouts. This provides a challenge that is relatively unique during each attempt of a stage. The player can make each of the stages more challenging for themselves, attempting to clear them as fast as possible to get the best score they can.
Presentation – this is another visually pleasing release in the Pretty Girls series, with characters that have appeared in other titles returning here. The game field maintains the same simplicity of other entries in the franchise, making for an easy pick up and play experience. The sound is pleasant in this title also, with good quality music and a Japanese voice over for the different girls.
Final Thoughts – I have played a fair number of the Pretty Girls games, including the Mahjong Solitaire titles and this is another solid release from Zoo Corporation. There are plenty of stages for players to get value from this release, especially when the game itself is priced so low. I can easily recommend this title to everyone looking for a decent puzzle title to fill their time with, I just wish there was an online leaderboard to post scores.
In the end, I give Pretty Girls Tile Match a final score of 4.5/5. This is another solid release in the Pretty Girls franchise, which takes the familiar system of Mahjong Solitaire and adds a unique twist to it with the new match 3 rules. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game is below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
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