Alchemy by Astraware Review

May 2, 2007

By definition, Alchemy is the process by which base metals are transmuted into precious metals.  It has its origins in medieval Europe and today, throughout the world, people continue the practice.  After all, lead and iron are cheap.  How fantastic would it be to turn them into silver, gold or platinum?

While Astraware is making no claims to have discovered how to make alchemy work, their game by that name does, at least in a digital sense, allow you to turn iron into gold.  Alchemy is a puzzle game by which you match different color and character runes in lines and turn them into gold.  Sounds simple, right?  Ah but it would not be a great game from Astraware if it were that simple!  As you progress through each level - and gain mystical rankings of your "wizardry" - the characters and colors of the runes become more complex, making it increasingly more difficult to turn the entire playing field into gold.  It is a fun, challenging and addictive game where you are required to think about rune placement and not just randomly place them in the field.  A few wrong moves and you could find yourself woefully short of your dream:  Fields of gold!

Astraware's Alchemy is installed on your device via ActiveSync and requires approximately 830K of storage space.  You can either install Alchemy in your device's main memory or on a storage card and your device must be running Pocket PC 2002, 2003, 2003 SE or Windows Mobile 5.0.  As of the writing of this review I have not tested Alchemy with Windows Mobile 6.0.  During the installation process you will be prompted to select the type of device you are installing Alchemy onto. 

Once Alchemy is started you introduction screen (which alternates to the high scores).  From here you can select an easy game or hard game as well as see an animated instruction guide.  The instruction guide is very well done and guides you through step-by-step on how to play the game.  I strongly recommend players to go through this guide as it will explain the game's finer points and make it clear what you have to do in order to complete each level.  The key thing to remember as you play Alchemy is that a rune can only be placed next to another which match in either color, shape or both.  This is a critical item to keep in mind as you begin playing and underscores the importance of where you place the pieces.

Figure 1:  The Introduction Screen of Alchemy	Figure 2:  The Instruction Guide of Alchemy

As you begin playing, the playing field is divided up into squares with only the center square occupied by a stone.  The stone - which are provided to you from time-to-time in game play - are color and shape neutral meaning you can place any color or shape next to them.  The object is to complete lines of matching shape and/or color runes which will then turn them into gold.  Once the entire board is turned to gold you advance to the next level of the game.  Once a line of gold is completed, it can still have runes placed on it assuming there is a like shape or color next to it.  It is not uncommon during game play to fill a line two or three times, especially at more advanced levels.

With each rune put into play and lines of gold completed, you earn points.  The amount of points you earn will depend on the difficulty of the rune placement, the level at which you are playing and other factors.  If you complete a line of gold for example and then complete it again, the points earned the second time are substantially less than the first time you completed it.  The more points you earn the higher your "wizardry" ranking will be in the game. 

Figure 3:  The Alchemy Playing Board

As you play Alchemy, especially in more advanced levels, you will find yourself unable to play the rune that is provided.  The good news is that you can "throw it away" by dragging the rune to the caldron on the upper-right above the play board. The bad news is you can only do this three times in a row!  As you drop a rune into the caldron, you will see the red, bubbly mixture of liquid rise.  If you drop three runes in a row into the caldron, it will overflow thus ending your game.  Thankfully you can cool the caldron down by placing runes onto the playing board. 

Figure 4:  Dropping Runes Into The Caldron Causing Impending Doom

In addition to the caldron, Alchemy also has a "kill" rune that is randomly provided.  This skull-and-bones rune can be placed on any rune already on the playing board and it will eliminate that rune, instantly turning the square to gold.  This is exceptionally helpful when you have multiple colored and shaped runes in a particular area of the board.  The elimination of a color or shape could prove to be all you need to make your next play.

Figure 5:  The "Kill" Rune Allows You to Eliminate Any Rune on The Board

When you start playing Alchemy, the variety of colors and shapes on the runes are simple.  In fact, on the first Easy level there are only 4 colors and 6 shapes.  The real challenge of Alchemy comes into play at higher levels of the game.  There you will see a far greater number of rune colors and shapes, making the strategy of where to place them all-the-more difficult.  It is this difficulty however that makes Alchemy so addictive to play.  The more you play the game the more you begin to understand the strategy required and the more time you will spend playing simply thinking of where to place the runes.  I liken Alchemy to Sudoku in this sense.

The controls and options within Alchemy are straightforward.  To place a rune on the board simply tap that square or drag the rune to the square.  You will need to drag a rune to the caldron if you are eliminating it.  As for options, they primarily have to do with sound.  During the game, a melodic song is played while other sounds are played when lines are completed and when "kill" runes are played.  It is possible to disable any or all of these sounds by tapping on the Tools>Options menu or by tapping the icon on the menu bar below the playing board.  If you look at Figure 4, you will see that I have disabled the music in this particular game.

Of the several Astraware games that I have reviewed and tested, I must say that Alchemy is one of the most addictive!  The game play is simple but the game itself is challenging if not flat-out difficult at times.  The more you play the game, the more addictive it becomes but it also challenges you to think about strategies of where to place runes.  I find myself playing Alchemy almost daily and it has yet to cause bordom!  There is nothing within Alchemy that I would change as the graphics are superior, the game play is challenging, the music is catchy and it runs great on Windows Mobile 5.0 and Pocket PC 2003 devices as I tested it on several.

Astraware Alchemy is available for $9.95 (US) from the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! store.  As is our tradition here at the site, if you purchase Alchemy from the store and use the coupon code CFALCHEMY when you checkout, you will receive a 15% discount.  This offer is only valid on the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! store and expires on May 11, 2007.  In addition, you can also download a trial version of Alchemy from the store as well.  Visit this link to try or buy.

Give Alchemy a try and see what you think.  Fields of gold await you - so long as your chemistry is right!

Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices
Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!