Super Collapse 3: An Addictive and Stimulating Game

Do you often blame your carpal tunnel solely on playing marathon sessions of Tetris? If you love puzzle games, Super Collapse 3 is the ultimate package, offering several "modes" of game play so you are never burnt out.

I discovered the classic Collapse game several years back on Yahoo's somewhat defunct Yahoo! Games feature. The classic game is sort of a reverse to popular games like Tetris: Square blocks populate from the bottom of the screen. The goal of the game is to eliminate blocks as quickly as possible, which you do by clicking on any cluster of the same-colored blocks (minimum of three blocks in a cluster). If any block touches the top of the screen, you have lost the level. As you advance in levels, the blocks populate much faster and additional colors are added to the mix.

The best features of Super Collapse 3 are the seven various "modes" in which you can play the game. Classic mode is basically the same as the original Collapse, except that the screen is much wider and bombs are now featured. Black bombs will eliminate a certain section of all blocks, while colored bombs will eliminate all blocks of that color on the screen.

Relapse mode is a much faster-paced twist on Classic Collapse. In Relapse, blocks enter from both the top and bottom of the screen. This can be a pretty tricky mode to tackle and is often a challenge to new players.

Strategy mode is a slow-paced, thinking person's favorite. A certain amount of blocks are already populated on the screen when the game begins, and for each cluster you eliminate, a new line of blocks populates. While this sounds easy, it actually takes just what the title hints at- strategy. When switching from Classic mode to Strategy mode, I'll often forget what I'm doing and begin eliminating clusters too fast and lose the level quickly.

Puzzle mode is a very fun, unique mode of game play. Blocks are already populated when you begin the level, usually in a very colorful pattern. The twist to Puzzle mode is that blocks can only be eliminated in a few certain orders, as with each click, things fall into place and move around quite drastically.

Slider mode can be pretty darn aggravating. Blocks constantly slide back and forth, and it is fairly difficult to grow accustomed to- at first. After playing this mode for a few levels, it becomes an instant favorite, for the challenge alone. But don't worry, with each progressing level, Slider gives you more and more bombs.

Continuous mode is a very nice way to see just how good you are at the game in general. This mode is just like Classic, except that there is no break between levels, the game just goes on and on. The only thing I dislike about Continuous mode is that lines of blocks populate much faster in earlier levels.

Count-down mode is just awesome practice. You have two minutes to see just how high you can score, and it gives you more bombs than any other mode.

When registering Super Collapse 3, you are given the option to automatically unlock all modes or do so by playing Quest, which is traveling through several villages and playing each mode. For each new village you reach, all modes get a bit harder and you collect more coins for every game you beat. Little shops are located within each village, where you can buy bombs, unlock modes in game play, and various other helpful tools with your coins. Casinos are also located in each village, where you are able to "gamble" your coins. All casino games are extremely easy and usually worth playing.

I recommend playing Quest simply as a means of getting to know the ins and outs of the game and its many modes.

Super Collapse 3 can be downloaded for free at gamehouse.com. The free, demo version contains advertisements or commercials, that pop up every few games and can usually be exited after a few seconds. The game can also be downloaded and purchased for a one-time fee. The purchased game contains no advertisements.