Mystic Ice Blast: Another 60-second puzzler with only the slightest of twists

By now, you've likely played one of the many 60-second puzzle games available on Facebook and elsewhere. Whether it's Bejeweled Blitz, Diamond Dash or even older classics like Collapse, the formula of matching three or more like colored symbols is nothing new. In keeping with this theme is Gamehouse's Mystic Ice Blast on Facebook, a game so similar to Diamond Dash that it might as well be called a clone.

In each 60-second round, you'll need to click on groupings of three or more like-colored gems, destroying them from the screen. The twist here comes in the replacement of gems, as they appear from the bottom of the screen, rather than falling in from the top. Otherwise, the gameplay is as you'd expect: you'll unlock boosts that can clear whole rows or columns from the board, can activate a sort of frenzy mode if you play fast enough (where clicking on matching groups creates large explosions across the board) and so on. Performing well means that point multipliers will be added to the board, increasing your chance of a high score, and these scores will be compared to those of your friends on the game's weekly resetting leaderboard. Rounding out the package are lives that limit how many games you can play before taking a break and a coin / store system that allows you to purchase up to three power-ups that can be used in each game (adding more time the clock, destroying all gems of a single color, etc.).

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Similarities aside, the gameplay here is technically sound, with no game-breaking bugs popping up during our time with the game. Likewise, the graphical theme is bright and lovely, with ice crystals surrounding the board that fill with rainbow lights as you make matches in rapid succession. Everything works the way that it should, including the calming soundtrack, but it's nothing we haven't seen and played before... a lot.

If you're looking for yet another match-three puzzle game on Facebook, by all means give Mystic Ice Blast a try. Just don't be surprised if all of your friends are still playing Diamond Dash or any number of other like games that came first.

Click here to try Mystic Ice Blast on Facebook --->

Have you tried Mystic Ice Blast on Facebook? Do you think it has enough staying power to compete with Diamond Dash? Sound off in the comments.