Originally this free-to-play title was released for the Nintendo 3DS but has since been ported to mobile. The port offers better graphics over the original due to the game now being able to be played on stronger hardware with higher resolution screens. The graphics are all high res now and look quite sharp.
Depending on the Pokemon one picks for their team the player is able to mix and match in order to plan ahead for what type of match they will be up against. Sometimes this takes a bit of trial and error but for the most part is a deep way to add strategy to what is basically a match 3 game.
Nintendo often has giveaways and events that allow players to gain hard to get Poekemon. Users who have been playing since the release of the game will have a slight advantage by having these hard to gain Pokemon on their teams, which for new users will be a bit of a hurdle for multiplayer and single player.
Much like an MMO, there is quite a long tail to this game, people have already been playing it for years and there is still content for them to join in on. If one is looking for a long term game to play, P&D definitely offers that.
Despite its looks and being a match 3 game there is quite a lot of strategy to the title. A player can have up to five monsters on their team, which will help them in a match 3 game depending on the attributes of their team. Mix and matching certain teamates may give an advantage over other combinations making for a good bit of strategy when creating ones teams. On top of this there is a way to level up ones dragons as well as combine them, so the constant need to upgrade is there, which can become a balancing act when also making decisions of who to choose for each team position.
The game needs a constant connection to the internet in order to play and so will not work where there is no data connection. This can limit play depending on where one is and how often.
Unlike a lot of free-top-play games where the player hits a wall of difficulty after a short amount of time, Spirit Stones has a very even difficulty curve that very slowly progresses, which makes for a pleasure to play without getting too frustrated and nagged to spend real money on game unlocks.
There are four different classes of heroes one can use on their team, each with their own corresponding color. Each color represents stones on the match 3 playing field. When matching stones a move from the right colored character will perform an attack which will hit their enemy. Some enemies have weaknesses to a certain color and so a team can be made that is more heavily that one color over the others. This is where strategy comes in as the player can mix and match their teams in order to plan for what type of enemies they will be attacking, especially certain bosses.
Users often complain of having to reinstall the game in order to get it working due to bugs. having to do this in order to get the game working is going to be time consuming and is just too much of a hassle when there are so many other games out there that fit this genre.