Game Review: Christmas Crush Holiday Swapper (Mobile – Free to Play)

A rare thing to find in the free play world these days. Christmas Crush Holiday Swapper is a match-3 game. Remember them? They were all the rage a few years back and every hack developer had their own one. Each copying a basic formula, adding their own skin and packing it with in-app purchases.

Simple gameplay, where you match 3 or more items in a row to complete a set task. Something like clearing a specific colour amount or dropping an item to the bottom of the screen by clearing what’s underneath it. It rarely got complex even if there often was variety and increasing difficulty.

However, just like the in-app purchases fell out fashion and was replaced by obnoxious ad-spam, so did match-3 games. Slowly being replaced by ‘mini-game/job/one-touch’ style games, which now dominate the free to play market.

So with match-3 games rarely crossing our path these days, rediscovering a decent one released over two years ago, makes for a nice change from the usual free to play dross we experience. Though be under no illusions, Christmas Crush Holiday Swapper is a flawed game and offers nothing fresh or interesting in the match-3 world.

However, what it does have is a festive theme, visuals and music. It’s a Christmas match-3 game and that’s always a little more fun. Unless you hate Christmas and match-3 games.

Beyond that, there’s very little to make Christmas Crush Holiday Swapper stand out. It ticks all the boxes and does nothing wrong for the most part. You can easily lose a mindless 30-60 minutes just swapping Christmas shapes and items around. The levels get increasingly tougher and you can easily spot the ‘paywall’ coming. That’s the part where the game gets so difficult that you’re forced to use the free bonus items you have. If you want or need any more, it’s time to stump up some real cash.

Yes, in a very classic move, Christmas Crush Holiday Swapper has in-app purchases. A number of packs that will give you a finite amount of bonus items ranging from £0.89 to £34.99. Do you really have to tell you that any purchase in this game is a waste of money? It was before the free to play market was completely ravaged and it’s no different now.

Why are we being so harsh on a game we’re happily saying is perfectly fine and will give you plenty of time wasting enjoyment? Simply because it has no place in this world anymore and its refusal to adapt and find a new way to get an audience makes it feel like a game many years older than it is. A Christmas skin can’t save it from the monotony of what it is at its core.