Gempang is a charming match-three game developed by BITPlus Inc. The object of the game is to click on similar-looking monsters and have them burst by dragging them onto a central water monster called "Aquose." Aquose eats them and they burst. When the player clicks on matching monsters, they become linked by a water line of sorts and no matter how far away they are from Aquose, they can be sent toward him. Players do this by dragging them as a group toward Aquose.
The game has a very colorful and cheerful art style. The creatures have their own charm and personality. Aquose even has a certain kind of character, which becomes apparent after playing the game for a while. The game also has a comedic factor to it. It is quite runny looking at the way the creatures act when they get clicked on, after they turn around and their faces are showing. What also makes the game interesting is that each creature has two sides to them. They start out turned around with their back showing and that is when they can be clicked on or matched. However, they also turn around and reveal their faces occasionally. If players click on them then, they cannot be matched with adjacent creatures; nor can they be matched with other creatures turned around in this mode.
This adds a bit of complexity to the title and in the later levels they seem to turn around a lot more often. Another gameplay element to the game is power-ups. When players start doing really well and getting high-scoring matching sets of monsters, they will appear. For instance, one power-up allowed me to destroy creatures as a whole from their rows and columns. I am not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but I moved on in the level shortly thereafter.
The way levels are switched is automatic, with progress rather than entering and exiting between them. There is a slider with points accumulated showing on the upper-left portion of the game's user-interface. As it fills up in color it means the player is accumulating points; and when the color reaches the right side of the bar, the level switches. There is also a score showing on the upper-right portion of the screen that deals with the overall accumulation of points and not just based on each level's count. Levels can be resumed from the main menu when players click on continue game.
The game is a very light-hearted attempt at Bejeweled and match-three, but definitely has an addictive factor to it. It is really meant to be played in short bursts making it a great portable title. However, it isn't the most challenging puzzle game around, and has a very simple gameplay element to it. This makes the game pretty accessible to everyone of all ages. I recommend checking it out for the gamer who enjoys puzzle, match-three, or charming games with cute creatures in them.
