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holiday bonus gold is your bog-standard match-3, and the christmas theme certainly doesn't help if you're a scrooge like me. don't get me wrong, there's some good festive stuff around, but this is nothing to write to santa about. still, I wanted to start at the beginning and sleigh my way through grey alien's match-3 catalog on steam.

this gold edition is from 2012 originally, the non-gold with 55 levels came out in 2006, which in turn was the follow-up to 2005's xmas bonus, so there's quite a bit of history. there are 110 levels here, half in the classic pack, the rest in the gold pack. both are unlocked from the start but levels within have to be completed one by one. no move limit, mandatory timer, just measures time, doesn't count down, and there's a hint button. matching is possible while animations are playing out, always nice.

fun fact: levels are a bunch of text files, so it shouldn't be hard to create your own layouts.

power-ups aren't created or bought, but pre-placed on the levels and can be used when necessary, though there are more appearing later, so something must trigger them. some can be picked up and used on a tile of your choice, and if the thermometer charges up, the next power-up will be even more effective. it'd be useful if their explanations were part of the how to play section though, instead of a single pop-up when they're first introduced. as it is, by not paying too much attention, I ended up wasting a bunch of them. and it's worth noting that most power-ups only destroy tokens and don't affect colored tiles behind them that have to be removed for completion. unfortunate.

graphics are functional, there's a details slider, a bunch of backgrounds you can set as wallpaper if you want a small image in the middle of the screen (the game runs in glorious 800x600 resolution), and further images to unlock in the gallery. the song in the menu is abysmal, think christmas music but disco. I swear it's wham's vomit-inducing last christmas, sans the singing (so it's a bit better). the rest is tolerable but still best if turned off. if you want matching music, I highly recommend the trans-siberian orchestra christmas albums.

separate volume settings, custom cursor, windowed mode with a non-resizable and pretty small window by today's standards (again, 800x600), and there's a widescreen toggle, but it just stretches everything to fill the screen, doesn't look great.

it works as it should, so even though it's not something I felt like completing or even playing too much of, if you're looking for some yuletide match-3 action (or inaction) and don't mind the dated presentation, go for it, but wait for a sale.

Your typical match 3 with a holiday theme of it being christmas.. Nothings new and most of your modern match 3 games do a lot more. This is just plain and too simple

Definitely an earlier game than the much better Spooky Bonus, this one provides little feedback and unless you are absolutely the hardest up you could be for match-3, please avoid this title, as it's the most basic possible implementation of the genre.

I have played two other games by these developers, Spooky Bonus (a match 3 game like this one) and Regency Solitaire. Both were excellent fun. Holiday Bonus Gold is not excellent fun.

Holiday Bonus is tedious, dull, monotonous, banal, dreary, humdrum, and in case I'm not being clear here- it is BORING with a capital zzzzzzzzz ...which is exactly what happened every time I played it. I am NOT kidding. I have played this game 3 times, and every time I fell asleep. Soporiferous is not a quality I want in my games. I leave that to Nyquil Nighttime Relief.

Additionally, the graphics aren't that great and it has no achievements. Any good points? The music is ok and it has 5 cards. Also, you can unlock a gallery of winter themed pics that can be used as desktop backgrounds ...they are ...ok.

What else? The gameplay is

uh wut? Darn it, I fell asleep just thinking about playing it! OK, I did not, but I'm old and I don't have enough life left to waste on this game. In fact, I reviewed it to unlock the 4th 2018 Steam Awards Badge. There, Holiday Bonus was finally good for something. Aw, never mind- it had to be a game I nominated or reviewed before. Holiday Bonus, you are useless! >.<

In this winter game we swap all sorts of Holiday items to play a relaxing Match-3 game. While you play, the music and sound effects will accompany you quiet nicely to ensure that you have a pleasant game play. There are also beautiful backgrounds you can stare at and enjoy.

Overall, there are 55 Regular and 55 Golden Levels, so you can complete the Christmas Tree. You also unlock background gallery as well!

So this game is based on luck. As in you don't make Match-4+ or Match-5+ for power ups. They just randomly come up. There are also mysterious "?" bags with a random power up upon a mouse click.

How is it? Relaxing! I mean this isn't a game where you play to pump yourself up. I mean you can... but why? Match-3 with a Holiday theme -> you like Match-3? Well then, think about whether ya want to play it or not... If you do, do enjoy! Thank you for the fun aka relaxing Match-3 game!!! :) :> =)

6/10

I really love Spooky Bonus - a newer match-3 game by GreyAlien. I had hoped this game (Holiday Bonus) was as good, but sadly it is lacking a story and other elements that the other match-3 games provide (from this developer).
I can tell this is an earlier game, because the newer games are much more refined. But it is still a great time waster when I am bored, especially since I already beat the other games from this developer.

That said, I still love the game engine that was used to develop this game (and others from GreyAlien): You can continue making matches as tiles are still falling (which helps keep the flow when you are on a roll), you can either swipe or select the tiles to match, and the game mechanics are solid.

I have almost every game from this developer and will continue to support future games. I only wish I had been developing my own games when the game engine was for sale (the engine was purchased by Big Fish and is no longer available to indie developers like myself).

I would still recommend this game to folks who love match-3 games, as another addition to the librabry. But if you don't collect these games like I do, then there are better ones out there.

Keep making games GreyAlien!

I only play this once a year!

This is a great match 3 (or more game) with a good level of challenge and is well presented.

If you like Match 3, and you like Christmas - then you'll like this :)

7/10 - would explode me pudding again.

It is a super bog-standard Match-3 game with a Christmas-theme to it and some gimmicks.
For example there are bombs that blow up several fields and matches can free the iced blocks and many more. I would've never believed to say this but this is actually fun compared to other Match-3 games on Steam. Music is nicely in the background and the switch into another level is smoothly executed and not "cheap" via level select.

Downside: Separate volume settings, custom cursor, windowed mode with a non-resizable and pretty small window by today's standards (800x600), and there's a widescreen toggle, but it just stretches everything to fill the screen and doesn't look great.

Can be worth it for a few cents and if you have nothing better to do. A good timewaste.

It is a super bog-standard Match-3 game with a Christmas-theme to it, it has nothing special in it at all.

I guess this game would be fine for like 2005, but it was released in 2016 and lacks any and all features that Match 3 games need to make them a bit of fun to spend time in.
The game also looks horrible, and even worse in full screen.

Look for something else, this is not a good Match-3 game at all.



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Decent, basic Match 3 game with lots of levels. It's an older game, so the graphics are just okay.