After running this game, I realized that my reviews aren't quite comprehensive enough, so I added two categories: presentation and finish(previously, they were erratically covered in my side notes). The score averages will also be changed to rounded decimals, as using six categories can give awkward fractions. Without further ado, let the review begin!
Greedy Spooks is a match-3, enough said. It goes without saying that the gameplay is dull and monotonous, but at least the difficulty is nice(selecting "Hard" turns off stupidly easy matches). Level completion is also handled in an interesting way - the player must fill a bar on the right side of the screen before a timer on the left side runs out. It can be quite challenging, so I'll rate it higher than most others in the genre.
The graphics are the usual casual fare, with appropriately flashy animations, and semi-well-drawn backgrounds and objects. It's hardly anything new in that regard. Sometimes, one of the characters speaks - but it's badly animated and is really just another story box, except with a jerky animation next to it.
However, the sound is amazingly good. The music was genuinely enjoyable(I copied it to my music collection, as the game's music is in its own folder), and the sound effects are pleasing. It has one small flaw, though - there's only one song, which loops through the entire game, and the small level-beginning/end tunes play simultaneously, creating a dissonant clash. That minor quibble, though, is hardly enough to warrant a bad rating.
The theme and story are actually quite good, and certainly better than the fodder found in most other games of the genre. The story is that a foreign army was attacking a kingdom's outposts, and five brave knights were sent, with the command of five armies, to reclaim them. However, the knights were corrupted by their victories, and turned to conquest for power's sake. Before they died, they hid their treasure on an island, because they were stingy and didn't want anybody to have their spoils. As it belonged to the king, though, he sent out several ships to find it and take it back. The player, needless to say, is one of those sent to find the treasure, which is guarded by the spirits of the dead knights. Strangely enough, the early events mirror the history of the Crusades - they started as well-intentioned attempts to reclaim stolen territory, but devolved into brutal slaughter. The visuals and general feel are also quite good.
However, there is a major flaw in the presentation - in the event of a game over, the player has to submit their country for the online leaderboard - but they have to type it in, as opposed to using a drop-down menu. I could not decide if I should use U.S.A, USA, U.S, US, United States of America, etc. The translation is also quite substandard. In addition, on exit, there's a nag screen prompting the player to visit the game's site, with no option to exit for five seconds. This is understandable, though, considering the fact that it's ADWARE. Yes, you read that right, it's adware. I actually visited the site and downloaded the game, and it's no different from the giveaway, complete with annoying splash screens and browser hijacks. Why is it on this site?!
Fine, it's a free game, being given away for free. Amazing. It's also an extremely BUGGY game, being given away for free. It ran perfectly when I first started it up in Vista, but the screen flickered horribly in Level 2. To fix that, I tried running it in XP Compatibility Mode, but then I got the same speed and window issues that others had. When I turned off Compatibility Mode, the bugs stayed. In short, it was almost unplayable. What a shame.
Overall, I give Greedy Spooks a score of six out of ten(seven for gameplay, six for graphics, eight for sound, nine for theme, four for presentation, and two for finish). It could have been a great game, but it's too riddled with bugs to be playable. Let's hope that the company recognizes this and fixes the problems. It's so much better than other adware, and it deserves better programming.
Small side note: The installer from the company's page ends with a checkbox that will "Launch the Greedy Spooks!". That has to be the funniest thing that I ever read in an installer.