Downfall

Downfall is a single player, keyboard controlled, tile matching game similar to Columns.

When the game was released in 2002 it was released as shareware, 2D game and had just twelve game variants Classic; Manic Panic; Avalanche; Vertical Reality; Whole Lotta Lava; Boom!; Frozen; Krazy; Acid; Wall To Wall; Flip-Flop; and Black & White.
In 2003 version 2.0 was released and this saw the introduction of 3D graphics, by 2006 when the game was released by Big Fish Games the game had over thirty variants/levels which are listed below.

In this game groups of coloured blocks fall from the top of the game area and the player must arrange them to form strings of blocks of the same colour horizontally, vertically or diagonally. When such a string is formed they disappear and the player scores points. The game ends when the play area is full no more blocks can be dropped.

A typical game will see columns of three blocks falling and the player has to create groups of three or more of the same colour to remove the, interspersed with the coloured blocks, these do not disappear when groups are formed. This game has many variations, some drop a mixture of different sized columns, others just pairs of blocks. Most games require the creation of groups of three matching colours while others require the creation of strings of six blocks. The game variants are grouped as follows;* Classic: the game variations here are Simple; Rough Gems; Opal Mine; Magic; Hard Rain; Gold Digger; Pile of Gold; Gem Hunt; Rockslide

• Demolition: Great Walls; Barricades; Tower; Fort Knox; City Bank; Petrified
• Abstract: Hijinx; Black & White; Red, Green, Blue; Tiny; In Between; Jam-Packed
• Volcanoes: Treasure Island; Kilauea; Etna; Hekla; Lost Gold
• Sub-Zero; Variations are Avalanche; Blizzard; Cryo Lab; Siberia; Arctica; Aspen; Fridge

Some of the variations to the standard Columns type of game found in Downfall are; Special Blocks. There are many of these in the game, some examples being; + Barricades has special stone blocks which, when they land, create a pillar of stone five blocks high + Magic has a block which changes the colour of blocks close to where it lands. + Tiny* where blocks fall as columns of twelve very small blocks

• The Volcano group features a special block which deposits a layer of stone blocks across the game area that need a pick axe block to remove
• Tangerine Blues is a variant with just two colours. Here blocks fall in columns of three which are mostly blue and the player has to create rows of six before they disappear. The occasional block is a crate, when that touches down it adds an orange block to top of the adjacent columns.
• Gold Digger and Treasure Island are variants that have gold blocks along the base of the game area protected by a stone barrier. To score high points the player has to clear any coloured blocks, drop a spade block onto a stone block to remove it and then drop more spades into the hole to mine the gold.
• The Sub-Zero games include blocks which freeze adjacent blocks effectively turning them to stone until another special block thaws them.
• Some of the Demolition group contain coloured blocks enclosed in stone which are removed by left/right pointing bombs