Yes, there are literally hundreds of options in this game that can be set, fiddled with, edited, changed, exchanged and intermingled which is rather surprising for an indie casual game. But we like variety and loads of options. If Tidalis were a Mercedes, this would be the biggest options package you could get with it I think. Anyway, Arcen Games had the foresight to realize that you might get bogged down in the details, so they’ve put together a Wiki for the game as well as crafted a thorough PDF game manual. So if you really want to delve into all there is in Tidalis, you’ve got the resources in the 34 page manual and the Wiki which gives you tips like "quick and easy customizations for your comfort" and "exploring the mountain of functionality" (which made me chuckle). Oddly, the only thing I really wanted to try that doesn’t appear to be available, is gamepad control (without the use of an external application like Pinnacle). I don’t know if the game would be easier or more difficult with the gamepad but it was worth investigating.

Oh right, you want to know if the game is cool right? I’ve spent so much time talking about all it can do, I haven’t even touched on that yet. Yes, the game is cool. It’s more diverse than your standard match three, it’s more challenging than your casual logic puzzle games and overall, this is one of the most intricate, challenging and interesting games I’ve played in some time. It’s truly amazing that with the ’mountain of functionality’ in the game, it’s only $10 (8 Euro) on GamersGate.

Tidalis, as I said, usually requires you to clear three or more of a single color block by making chains. Each block has a directional arrow on it and that will be the direction in which the ray moves through the block. The object is to have rays pass through as many of the same color as you can to create the chain. Additionally, as blocks fall after you make a chain, they too will emit a ray that will then, if you’ve thought ahead, create another chain thereby clearing more blocks from the board, etc. The ray will only pass through up to three blocks if it has not touched another block of the originating color i.e. A ray begins from a red block and passes through a blue and then a green. The next block is also green so it ends there. If that last block were red it would have continued in whatever direction the arrow pointed for up to another three blocks or until it hit something that stops it. The ray could continue indefinitely if you continued to hit the same color. My personal best is a 31-block chain so far and I managed 27 chains in a single combo. I know all of this because the game keeps some fairly in-depth stats.

Every level will have some sort of goal to achieve, or hazard to avoid. Commonly it is to clear a certain number of blocks and avoid a certain type of block or simply to not let the block stack to the top. There are also some trickier levels that require you to make a certain number of combos of specific sizes, limit your number of moves, clear a number of special blocks or clear blocks using special powers.