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Gardenscapes Review

Gardenscapes review featured image.

How I Played Gardenscapes

Gardenscapes was a game in the past. I was curious to see if the game was any fun.

I have played this game off and on for quite a while. I play the game on my smartphone, and I was playing level 167 and Day 4 at the time of this review.

Gardenscapes
Gardenscapes
Developer: Playrix
Price: Free

Gameplay Review

The Game Is Fun but Feels Slow

The game is somewhat fun to play, but It feels a bit slower than I would like. I have been playing faster-paced match three games more recently so that factors into things.

The Gardenscapes level start screen.
Screenshot of Gardenscapes Android game.

There Is Some Variety in Levels

There is also a nice variety in levels, but things progress somewhat slower as the game has thousands of levels. This can be good or bad, depending on how much you like the game.

Gardenscapes level 162. This level has honey in it.
Screenshot of Gardenscapes Android game.

The Story in Gardenscapes

The story like the name implies is about fixing up the gardens and outdoor areas of a house you inherit. You progress to different areas as you beat levels and fix and repair various things.

The Story to Me Was Boring

I sometimes forget why I am even doing story tasks. This happened when I came back to the game to review it. The story is just not too interesting to me, and a bit slow.

As with other games like this, I tend to collect the stars or whatever story currency is being used and then progress in the story when I am done playing for the day.

A list of Gardensacpes tasks. I have two tasks that cost one star.
Screenshot of Gardenscapes Android game.

The Game Has Nice Events

The game has somewhat nice events. It is possible to earn free coins when you need it. There are also leaderboard events if you like that sort of thing.

Presentation Review

The Game Looks Nice

I am still not a fan of the 3D animations, but they look nice enough in this game. The game area looks great, and I like how the match three pieces and other puzzle elements look. I like the colorful graphics of this game.

I Like How the Match Pieces and Animations Look

The game area is somewhat exciting with its explosive powerups and interesting animations. I wish more games had more active matching animations like this game.

The Game Sounds Great

The game also sounds great. I like the sounds enough in this game to feel like I am missing something when the game is muted.

The music is nice as well. I tend to prefer more action-orientated music than relaxing music, but it works for this game.

How Does This Game Get You to Spend Money?

The Game Sells a Currency

There is the usual in-app store here. This time you are buying coins. You use them for what you would expect. You buy boosters and powerups and to continue levels when you lose.

You can also use coins to progress in the story faster.

The Gardenscapes store. You can buy coins.
Screenshot of Gardenscapes Android game.

Is This Game Fair for People Who Don’t Spend Money?

This game is quite fair. I have not seen a level yet that I could not beat by using free boosters and powerups.

How Does This Game Annoy You?

This Game Has a Life Timer

Like in most match three games, you have to wait time to play the game after running out of lives. Being locked out of playing a game is annoying, as I want to play games when I want to.

You Need to Wait for Some Tasks to Be Completed

The one thing that irritates me about this game is that it makes you wait for some tasks to be completed.

The game makes you wait as if this task is being completed in real-time. This is a method for the developers to make more money as you can spend coins to skip the wait.

Gardenscapes makes you wait to complete some tasks. I need to wait 10 minutes or spend 75 cons.
Screenshot of Gardenscapes Android game.

The Story Is Slow and Feels Like a List of Chores

I mentioned this before in the gameplay section, but the story feels very slow. This is because the game has thousands of levels, and I guess they can’t have you fix everything on the first day.

But instead of feeling like an epic story, it just feels like real life chores. The game makes you spend stars on the tiniest of tasks. So it feels like you are beating levels to complete a list of chores.

The Game Has Very Missleading Ads

So this information is being provided much later, after the review. I feel this information is worth mentioning, as I think people will notice this and wonder what I think.

Some of the ads for this game are very misleading. This presents a narrative or story I have never seen any hints of while playing the game. Maybe the story has drastically changed since I played. But I doubt it.

These ads follow the trend of seeing characters being abused or failing. I am not sure why this is a fad right now, but it is.

Nothing I see in most ads for this game or the follow-up game, Homescapes, reminds me of anything I have seen while playing the game.

My Overall Thoughts on Gardenscapes

Gardenscapes looks and sounds great, and it is also somewhat fun to play. But the story is slow-paced and quite boring. I suppose if you can overlook the lack of excitement in the story, you will enjoy the game.

Do I Recommend Gardenscapes?

I suppose if you like match three games and the idea of fixing up a garden interests you will love Gardenscapes.

Will I Play Gardenscapes After Reviewing It?

No, I will not play Gardenscapes anymore. There are too many puzzle games, to spend time in a game I don’t like that much.