AE Cap Mania is one of the more recent releases from AE Mobile for Windows Phone. The game is a match-3 styled game but instead of working horizontally or vertically to create the matches, you are moving puzzle pieces diagonally and vertically.
You have your customary bonus caps that will help you reach your gaming goal with bonus rounds scattered about to keep things interesting. AE Cap Mania is a well presented, casually paced Windows Phone game and not a bad option for your gaming library.
Game Layout
The main menu for AE Cap Mania has your game play option in the lower, center of the screen. Just below the play option on the main menu, you will find a row of menu items that will give you access to the game's settings, view the online leaderboard, rate the game and view other games from AE Mobile. Settings include muting the sound and/or music as well as viewing a brief help section.
Game play only has one mode, Endless, where you have to collect a certain number of bottle caps to advance through the rounds. Rounds do become progressively harder and require you to collect more caps.
Game Play
AE Cap Mania's gaming screen has the playing field populated with various bottle caps and your bonus items displayed across the top of the screen (more on this in a minute). Below the playing field, you will see your score and round number and just below this is your high score and number of possible moves available will be displayed.
To the right of the playing field is your collection meter. As you collect bottle caps, the meter fills with a sudsy liquid and your goal is to fill the meter completely. When you do, you will advance to the next round.
Game play is not unlike any other match-3 styled games. You tap and slide a bottle cap to swap it out with an adjacent cap to create a combination of three or more of the same caps. When you do, the caps are collected, points awarded and you are one step closer to advancing to the next round.
There is one obstacle that can make life a little interesting. Periodically, black caps fall into play that cannot be swapped with other caps. You can take out the black caps with your bonus items though.
Speaking of which, there are seven bonus caps that randomly come into play. These bonus caps range from a Ray Gun Cap that will eliminate one adjacent cap, a Rocket Cap that will eliminate a row or column of caps and an Atomic Cap the will eliminate all adjacent caps.
Bonus caps will appear at random as you play the game or you can put one into play from your inventory. Just tap the bonus cap you want to use and then tap where on the playing field you would like the cap inserted. Your bonus cap inventory can be re-supplied by using coins that are earned during game play. You can also purchase coins through in-app purchase.
The bonus game that appears between rounds is a memory matching game. You are presented with a playing field of caps and a very short period of time to memorize the cap's location. The caps will be flipped over and you'll need to find matching pairs of caps. The more pairs you find before time runs out, the more bonus points you earn.
Overall Impression
If you have grown bored with the match-3 styled games, AE Cap Mania may help break you out of the doldrums. Graphics are nicely drawn up and game play is challenging enough to keep things interesting.
I do wish the game had more gaming modes such as a Timed Mode where you try to score as many points before the clock strikes zero. The endless play mode currently in place will keep you busy but a little variety would not hurt.
All in all, AE Cap Mania is a fun game for your Windows Phone gaming library. It is a free, ad-supported game that is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.
You can find your copy of AE Cap Mania here in the Windows Phone Store.
