The story
This game somehow drew me in on my phone, and I of course wanted to replicate it on the Spectrum. Thus, MERGED! – A port from the mobile platforms.
Not too intricate but addictive gameplay, which, as they usually write, “develops logical and spatial thinking”, in other words, it’s a great “time-killer”.
About the game
The aim of the game is to put three or more chips together on the playing board, after which they merge into the next highest ranked chip. The chips are drawn at random and can be single or double, face value from 1 to 7, only instead of 7 there is the letter M.
Chips can be rotated 90 degrees before being placed on the field. Three of the higher ranked M chips merge and explode, destroying all the chips on the same field around them. You are awarded points for each merge of chips equal to the face value of the merged chips, and with consecutive mergers the points are multiplied.
The goal of the game is to keep the field full as long as possible. Respectively, when the field is filled with chips the game ends. At the end of the game coins are awarded according to the number of points earned. Coins are needed to be able to get rid of unsuitable pieces during the game, each subsequent replacement is more expensive than the previous one.
Features
I’ve tried to retain the atmosphere of the original game as much as possible and bring the usability closer to the mobile version, but Spectrum is not a smartphone, so I’ll highlight some points:
- The game requires no additional memory above 48k
- Automatic state upload to floppy disk when exiting to the main menu
- Sound effects for Beeper, AY and General Sound
- 50 FPS animation without using two Spectrum 128 screens
- Controls in all possible ways. Mouse, of course, is preferred
- Chips are painted according to the canons of the Spectrum palette and do not match the original version
Tips
Get coins for points scored. Use the coins to remove unwanted pieces to the trashcan.
Collect as many points as possible to get into the leaderboard and level up.
Click the logo to exit to the main menu, then the game state will be saved.
The save option is only available for the TR-DOS disk system.
