What could be more intriguing than a Japanese legend with a majestic dragon helping a goddess find her lost lute? The first thing that struck me with Cubix Dragon’s Lore by HeroCraft was the beautiful Japanese-style art work, ornate dragon, distinct characters and magical story that draws the user into an underwater journey traversing the islands across the sea.

Before you know it, you are under the spell of this game and hooked for what could be a very long time. Although a user who has strong self-restraint could easily play one level and then exit the game or continue later.

There are different modes to the game that enable the user to play in a preferred manner and that makes the game appealing to a wide variety of audiences.

If you prefer the game to be like a mystical journey through a book you can select the ‘Story’ mode and you’ll discover a wonderful story with beautiful illustrations of dragons and characters.

The characters include the goddess Benten who lost her lute, Kirin the wise dragon offers to find the lute for the goddess and he starts with Ninge the mermaid. If you play long enough, you’ll eventually have the pleasure to meet the sea lord, Syatihokio as well.

There is an introduction leading the user into the story and then you are greeted with this beautiful underwater board with colored cubes. The objective of the game is to match pieces of the same color by adding cubes. Once three cubes of the same color are grouped, they disappear from the board. The goal is to clear the board of colored cubes. This is also how you score points and earn money to spend in the store on items that will help you in your journey.

If you like the added pressure of a competitor, that’s an option in the arcade mode. You need to move quickly in this mode as you are on a timer and have the potential to upgrade yourself to a hero.

If puzzle mode is your preference you’ll find that you have to think a bit more for the best solution to different riddles.

Another mode is Infinity, and like the name infers, it has no time limit. The game only ends when there are no longer moves to play.

Finally, there is a Hot Seat mode that you can enjoy with other friends.

The cubes in the game are three dimensional and the board can be stacked up to three cubes high on most squares. The fireball helps to break through challenging areas with bigger impact than a single cube. Sometimes there are blockades that you must work around or burn with the fireball.

This short video trailer from the developers at HeroCraft show the game in action:

The user interface of this game is nothing short of beautiful and engaging. I really enjoyed playing this game and got caught up at times, which is not typical for me. While I have been exposed to a number of mobile games, I’m not an avid game player so I am convinced that this is something that can be quite addictive for just about anyone.

I played Cubix Dragon’s Lore long enough to island hop half way across the sea. I will admit that toward the end of game play I was looking for a little more challenge. However, I may have encountered new challenges in strategy sooner if I had saved my games instead of starting over from the beginning a couple of times. Progressing through the levels of the game did motivate and engage me so I would suggest saving your play and continuing to progress through the different levels.

There are plenty of levels to play as the game offers more than 100 of them! I was sufficiently hooked more than once for long periods of time trying to clear different boards of the game. The competitive games against the enemy and timed games do provide additional challenge at the higher levels. This game is definitely a thumbs up and a must play in my opinion. It will be one of the games that I return to when I have some time to spare and am looking to entertain myself.

Cubix Dragon’s Lore is available for $1.99 (USD) in Ovi Store; and there is also a free trial version that you can try before you buy.