Magic Temple (Android) Review

Developer: Tiny Mogul Games
Platform: Android
Price: Freemium
Google Play Store Download Link

Tiny Mogul Games are a bunch of creative geniuses based out of the Indian city of Bangalore, bringing you the magic at its very best. Debuting with Song Quest, a game testing you within the borders of Bollywood, Tiny Mogul has come a long way. Their second creation, Shiva: The Time Bender turned heads within the consumer group as well as the industry, when the Indian hero, Shiva set out killing deadly enemies and collecting orbs in the self titled handheld video game. Stellar 2D effects and sheer amazing level designing made sure they were driving the Indian audience in the right gaming direction.

India has been known for myths and magic, and Tiny Mogul capitalised on the country’s lavish fascination with magic and jewels and set a mindboggling trap for the handheld genre, with their creation, Magic Temple. Tiny Mogul just dropped the most addictive puzzle game on earth. Considering the console rage at stake and the already established puzzle games in the market, like Candy Crush, Magic Temple is India’s big leap into intelligent gaming.

Playing on the elements to support life, i.e. Water, Fire and Earth, Tiny Mogul takes a keynote from Pokémon and puts a puzzle/match making episode around Empires and Magic. You race against time to find and match two stones of the same affinity to remove them from the slider and move up on the ladder. Match two fire stones to triple your score, two earth stones to increase your gem respawn rate or two water stones to slow down the timer. Magic Temple asks you one simple question, “Are you the ultimate sage?” in under a minute.

Perks and upgrades are the best bits from this mobile game, as they keep you hooked to the game for hours and propel you to challenge your Facebook friends for online tournaments. Under each category of stone you have three levels to hit, the small, the big and the biggest. Hitting a successful combo unlocks the level above it. That basically gives you an upgrade on the gem attribute (i.e. time slow down is longer, more frequency of gem respawn, etc.) Hitting successful combos in a game unlocks a temporary power to improve your final score. The final score is a cumulative score of your game points and combo bonus. You also get to unlock perks like Head Start (that allows you to place any 6 jewels at the start of the game) and Combo Booster (combos grant better results).

Magic Temple satisfies the casual gamer, who probably seeks enjoyment while taking the bus to work, but becomes repetitive in the long run, a case with most games in the same genre. But the way you play your game (choosing which two gems to align) makes it a refreshing exercise. The smooth graphics makes it look appealing with different coloured gems on your screen. The progression system is challenging and rewarding. Sound effects are effective. And considering this game is more prone to test your IQ within a short window of time, it does a good job in being your reflex trainer.

Magic Temple is witnessing it’s fair bit of success, and now has over 15,000 participants in its leaderboards, the top 100 out of which are rewarded weekly. A recent update allows you to invite your friends to play Magic Temple via free SMSes, a part of the ‘Talk Time Rewards’ campaign initiated by the developer.