Mobile Game Reviews: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something that was a guilty pleasure for me; We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs. Developed by SundayToz Inc, this is a match 3 game starring the cast of the Cartoon Network series, We Bare Bears. You play as Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear, as well as their friends, as they clean up and rebuild the areas you see on the show through match 3 puzzles.  Every time you solve a puzzle, you get a star, which you spend on items to clean up the map.

Control: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs is a match three game.  For the puzzle sections, you slide gem, illustrated by vegetables, fruits, pretzels, pizza, tacos and other food items, in order to get match of three more tiles. For the rebuilding sections, the controls are simple tap and go.

Graphical Fidelity: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs looks like the show.  Every single thing in this game looks like it came from the show, so all the characters and locations look like they should look for this series.

Sound: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs has sound clips for vocalization of the characters, sound effects from the show, and distinct music for both maps and the match three sections.  All of it feels like it came from the show.

Ads and in app purchases: There are no ad in We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs, however, there are a LOT of in app purchases. So many that, if you're going to let your kids play this, you should lock down your ability to purchase things on the google play and apple stores, because kids can spend a LOT on things from the shop.

Fun Factor: We Bare Bears Match3 Repair is a very functional Match 3 game, which means it's fun if you enjoy that kind of thing.  Each level is progressively more difficult, and you've got 5 tries to solve a puzzle before you have to either recharge or spend real money on more tries.  What's also fun is seeing how the Bears change the map as you spend the stars you get for completing puzzles.

Final Analysis: We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs is a great Match 3 game that's unfortunately held back by the abundance of in app purchases. Your kids will love the game due to it being based on one of their favorite Cartoon Network shows, and since kids have little to no impulse controls, you NEED to keep that app store locked down. Other than that, I enjoyed my time with We Bare Bears Match3 Repairs wholeheartedly.