Candy Crush Saga 4+

To be honest, it’s the only game app I have besides Scrabble. I have played Angry Birds and occasionally have tried other games but have been playing this quite a while now. I like puzzles and to me this is a puzzle game. You can definitely get better at using the boosters and the design and ingredients in each puzzle.

I get the frustrations of some reviewers, but my biggest issue is the constant pop up windows trying to get you to buy something or participate in some extra feature. Some of us just want to play the game.

As far as spending money to pass levels or buy boosters, pay attention here: I am on level 13,407 and have never, not one single time, bought anything. I haven’t paid a dime for any extras like boosters or lives. I have been a tick on one level for several months before. I have passed 30 levels in a day before. Still, never cost me a penny. I used to be at the point where I would finish the levels and have to wait for updates to get new ones, but the levels got harder and I didn’t play much and got behind again. Still zero $$ ever paid. If they had an option to pay a few bucks and see fewer ads and pop ups I’d do that probably.

I never ever writes reviews, but this app has caused me so much frustration, I felt compelled too! Let me start by saying, the moto “swipe your stress away”, big joke. Let me be frank, this game is seriously addicting, and honestly was fun at first, now here at level 694, almost every board takes days and days to get past. Some of the levels are literally not possible to beat without using boosters, which every 5 seconds this game continuously shoves in your face the “special deals”, this game is free, no ads, they have to make money somehow. Whatever, I get it. However it eventually comes to a point every couple of levels you have to pay more and more to win. Before you know it, you’ve spent wayyy more then you’d like to admit, and AS SOON as you start buying things, the algorithm will INTENTIONALLY make the boards impossible to beat without purchasing, so instead of now being a valued buyer, you’re not someone this game will do everything in its power to walk alll over your completely embarrassing addiction to this game, and frustration of being stuck on a level after playing it over and over 80 times.

Moral of the story, if you play this, never cave in and buy, or you’ll be in a trap of being forced to continue buying in order to move on. Even better option, just don’t even play. It’s easy to say you won’t spend money, then get addicted and almost hypnotize into buying. This game is a pay to win scam, nothing relaxing about that.

Eventually you’ll get to a level where they’ll force you to use your “boosters”. You want to hold onto your boosters for really hard levels but out of nowhere, you’ll be on a level that isn’t even labeled “hard” (I was hung up on what seemed like a pretty easy level, in the high 50’s or low 60’s- I know, not far at all… I download and delete this game often… just downloaded it again for the first time in about a year, and an hour in, I was reminded why I ALWAYS delete the game out of frustration) anyway, I can’t beat the level without exhausting my boosters… if I decide to pocket my boosters and just keep using/losing lives to try to beat the level, I can exhaust all five lives and wait to get more… conversely, if I revisit that same level hours later when I have five lives… I can beat said level without a problem… except now I have less/no boosters for future, harder levels… forcing me to eventually pay for boosters or wasting lives trying to beat the next hard to beat level.

Overall… game wastes time very well… but due to how frustrating a simple (non “hard level”) can be… annoyingly it seems to purposely make it so you’re forced to use boosters when you’d really like to hold onto them for much harder levels. Sure, you can beat the level by using your boosters but then you’re on like level 59 (not far at all) and have 0 boosters left. Sweet.