Zynga Gets Original in Matching With Friends

Zynga’s reputation as a clone factory isn’t entirely undeserved. Today’s announcement that a Sims competitor The Ville and Farmville 2 are both in the works certainly doesn’t help. But not everything the company does is a spin on what someone else did first. Today’s launch of Matching with Friends shows that the social gaming powerhouse is capable of fun and original social gaming experiences as well.

As its name implies, Matching with Friends follows Words, Chess, Hanging and Scramble as the latest title in the “…With Friends” line-up. Like its predecessors the game is built on turn-by-turn multiplayer, allowing you to catch up on all your running games at your own leisure.

The big difference here is that Matching takes the player-friendly asynchronous multiplayer set-up the series is known for and applies it to a wholly original puzzle concept, instead of riffing on already-popular concepts like all the other With Friends titles.

Each round gamers are given a set of multicolored blocks that must be assembled onto the game board. Making sets of like-colored blocks scores points and clears them from the board. 2X and 3X multipliers litter the play field in key spots adding an extra layer of strategy. The player that manages to score the most points over 12 rounds wins.

The concept is very simple – anyone can match colors. But after just one afternoon of play it’s already obvious that Matching contains plenty of hidden depth. For example, if you have no good moves during your round it is a totally viable strategy to simply clutter the play field, making things more difficult for your opponent.

Matching with Friends is free to play with ads, with an ad-free version for sale for $2.99. Players can purchase coins which can be redeemed for power-ups like board-clearing bombs, but in my early games I haven’t ever felt like I needed to take advantage of these items or that the experience was “pay to win.”

Download Matching with Friends Free to try out the multiplayer puzzler for yourself.



Source : ign[dot]com

The Ville, ChefVille Are Zynga’s Next Social Games

Zynga has revealed the two newest entries in its Ville series: The Ville and ChefVille.

Coming tomorrow, The Ville is Zynga’s “house and people” game and allows players to build a whole life for themselves, including a house, career and even their own appearance. Players will be able to throw parties and invite their friends, leading Zynga to call the game its “most social game to date.”

Players will unlock new objects for their home as they level up and will interact with other players to build relationships. Interactions are key, and Zynga notes that the more people you talk to, the more happiness you’ll build up in-game. The Ville will be available on Facebook tomorrow and will be coming to Zynga.com “soon.”

Meanwhile, Zynga also revealed ChefVille, a new restaurant sim that “uses food to bring friends and family together.” Players will be able to create their own kitchen and build a restaurant by combining multiple ingredients to create new dishes. Each recipe a player creates will be emailed to them, allowing them to try the dish in real life for what Zynga calls a “Game to Table experience.” ChefVille will come to Facebook in addition to Zynga.com.

Beyond The Ville and ChefVille, Zynga also hinted that FarmVille 2 is coming soon and announced the latest game in the With Friends series. The company also unveiled new games including Zynga Elite Slots and Ruby Blast.

Look out for a full rundown of Zynga Unleashed in our additional coverage later today.



Source : ign[dot]com

Zynga Reveals Matching With Friends

During its Zynga Unleashed event today, Zynga announced Matching With Friends, the fifth game in its popular With Friends series. Available now on iOS, Matching With Friends consists of matching colored tiles. Each game lasts 11 turns as players try to match three or more tiles to clear the board and reset their opponent’s opportunity to score. Players can work with tiles that their opponents have already placed to build matches cooperatively, or use different colored tiles to block their opponents’ progress.

Each game board will contain special multipliers that allow for twice or three times the amount of normal points for each match. Players can also place bombs to eliminate opponents’ pieces and will earn extra points for making matches using a bonus color assigned at the beginning of each game. Matching With Friends will also include unique social features, including in-game chat and Facebook connect.

Meanwhile, Zynga also announced the Zynga With Friends network, which will allow players across multiple devices (iOS, Facebook, Android or Zynga.com) to interact via live chat and view live social streams. Look out for more coverage of Zynga’s new social platforms in our full coverage of Zynga Unleashed later today.

Matching With Friends is available for free from the App Store and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. An ad-free version is also available for $2.99.



Source : ign[dot]com