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Genre: Arcade/Puzzle

Format: Download

Developer: FunPause

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X, 667MHz G4, 128MB RAM, 40MB free hard disk space

Review Computer: 2GHz 20" iMac, 1GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon 9600

Network Feature: No

Price: $19.95

ESRB Rating: NA

Availability: Now

Official Website: www.funpause.com/fairies/

Demo: 17.9MB Zip

There's a brief exchange of dialogue in the movie Labyrinth that goes like this:

Sarah: Ow! It bit me!
Hoggle: What'd you expect fairies to do?
Sarah: I thought they did nice things, like granting wishes!
Hoggle: Shows what you know, don't it?

And so, aside from initiating my crush on Jennifer Connelly that continues to this very day, Labyrinth also forever shaped my opinion of fairies. They bite you. They're small, too, like mosquitos, and mosquitos bite you and suck your blood and buzz around your ears and completely ruin an otherwise enjoyable game of miniature golf. I had a girlfriend once who collected fairies. That was strike one. Strike two was that she took a job with Microsoft. Strike three was that she dumped me.

And now, here we have Fairies from FunPause. If you haven't yet heard of FunPause, you should check them out. With five Mac games now ready for download, they're on their way to establishing themselves as the Ambrosia Software of the 21st Century.

Like Ambrosia, you see, FunPause takes traditional games and puts unique twists on them. Fairies is one of those color matching games à la The Cursed Wheel, Bejeweled and Fun Pause's own Atlantis. And, as usual in games like this, there's a wildly adventurous set-up:

Fairies takes you to a world where legends are true and magic is real. As the most powerful wizard ever, complete 100 mesmerizing levels, break the magical spell that traps the fairies inside pictures, and restore justice to this world in need. You will be a hero, and be granted the ultimate power. Use it wisely!

Wow, right? Of course, what this means is that you slide colored jars vertically and horizontally in an effort to find matches and clear them from the screen. Because, you know, that's what powerful wizards do to show off their abilities.

So, yeah, you're presented with a board full of fairies trapped in jars, and you free them by sliding a row or column so that three or more of the same color touch. They can be linked in any way, not just in a straight line, so it's not too hard to find matches. In fact, because the jars light up when there's a match, you'll often discover matches you didn't see as you slide the jars to get to a match you did see. The jars break and the fairies within fly away, and the other jars fall into their place, often creating additional matches for combos.

Of course, what would a world where legends are true and magic is real be without bonus jars, so you get those, too. Jars with bonus multipliers, jars that make all jars of one color disappear, jars that change the colors of other jars, etc. Some jars are harmful, too, restricting movement and the like. To top it off, in the main game mode (Adventure), you're up against the clock, charged with freeing a certain number of fairies before time runs out. Clear enough, and you advance to the next level. After ten levels, you're rewarded with some fairy artwork (sadly, though, not Richard Dadd's The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke). After twenty levels, you're taken to another world. Clear 100 levels and you've won the game.

There are less hectic modes, too, for those not into anxiety games: Classic Mode has no timer, Relaxed Mode has no ending (it's there pretty much for just the experience of shuffling jars about) and Playback Mode is...Simon. Remember Simon? Groups of singularly colored jars light up and emit tones, and you then click on the groups to repeat the sequence. It's a good diversion from the basic gameplay of the other three, but I don't think you'll be spending much time there.

The gameplay in Fairies is good enough. It's what you'd expect from such a game. Where Fairies distinguishes itself is in its design, which is meticulous in its detail. The animated fairies within the jars provide an extra degree of movement, but don't distract from the action of the game. Nor do all the sprite effects, which add a good deal of flair and a great deal of color. The backdrops are like nice matte paintings in old movies, and the illustrations you get as rewards for clearing levels are very well done...if you're into fairy artwork that didn't directly inspire a great Queen song.

FunPause makes quite a fuss about the music in the game, and although I agree that it's well done, I disagree that it fits perfectly. It's too...dancy, I think, and fairies don't...uh...dance? Wait a minute. Ah, I don't know. Tell you what; if you do like the music, and many will, it's available for purchase as well.

The only real trouble I had with Fairies was manifest in windowed mode. When I'd bring another application to the foreground and then go back to Fairies, the menu options screen would suddenly flip to high scores and then not allow me to select a game mode. Quitting and restarting would fix it. Obviously, this isn't a problem in full screen mode because you can't switch to another app.

Of all the FunPause games I've evaluated, Fairies ends up being their best yet. Action/puzzle gamers will enjoy it, and it's pretty to look at even if you're not thrilled with the gameplay. A-list game developers could learn a thing or two from the Fairies GUI and cohesiveness of design. And, if you're like my former girlfriend and have a thing for fairies, you'll enjoy this game thoroughly. Just don't expect these fairies to grant your wishes. Fairies bite, remember.