The Treasures of Montezuma 4

The Treasures of Montezuma 4
N/A
Metacritic
81
Steam
74.353
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$0.69
Release date
16 May 2014
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
81 (537 votes)

Free the gods’ powers and fulfill your destiny in the Treasures of Montezuma 4! This new match-three game is overflowing with mystery and excitement!

Show detailed description

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: XP/Vista/7/8
  • Processor: 2.2 GHz processor
  • Memory: 256 MB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX compatible 128 MB
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
  • Storage: 2 GB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
301150
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
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HyperKaos
HyperKaos

Enjoyable match game with lots of different levels and game styles.

Anonymous
Anonymous

It's colorful, creative, and it has a lot of potential to be an awesome game, but the sound and visual effects during game play are lackluster, the time based play for this type of genre make it too stressful to be casual and fun. It's near impossible to get rewards on most of the puzzles due to the time restriction and the story is too corny and boring making it a waste of time. The explosions, music and motion need to be on steroids to warrant the time constraint. They should have taken a look at Bejeweled and Candy Crush to understand what makes a game like this fun.

Illimitus
Illimitus

Serious Sam meets match 3. J/K, this is a good game for a good price.

YYZ
YYZ

Why you still haven't bought it?

(Insert Here)
(Insert Here)

This game is pretty bleh. It's Bejeweled with upgrades, but the upgrades are necessary, forced, and mostly sucky. Almost half of them require you to match 5 jewels. The other half require you to match 3 colors twice, one after the other, and it's rather poorly explained.

Also, you don't get any graphics options, so it's pretty much stuck in derpmode.

DMG Henryetha
DMG Henryetha

Got this game for 0,62 € on sale and it was worth every cent.
First when I started it, I was flashed by the Intro; beautiful story, ok graphics, beautiful music.
Levels are entertaining, some are quite challenging and some additional rewards motivate to keep playing even after finishing the main story.
Gameplay is action-packed with cool sounds and flashy visual effects, which makes it pretty fun.
I can recommend it and I think it would be also worth its usual price of 6,99 €.

Sofabear
Sofabear

A strangely addicting game, very good looking design that is appealing to the eye and the game play is as stated, strangely addicting. Overall a nice addicting casual game. Definitly worth it.

CindyQwQ
CindyQwQ

my fav game since i was a kid.

pikachu097
pikachu097

totems are red

totems are green

totems are purple

totems are orange

this game is epic 5 star rating

SinRopa
SinRopa

This is a pretty solid matcher. Sadly for me, any time I let the animation run after the first level my computer hard reboots.

So this will have to be the end of my playtime.

But since the issue is not likely to happen to everyone, and I found it a decent quality matcher... I will still up-vote the game.

Cinny♥
Cinny♥

I'm still waiting for the trading cards to drop.
But the game is quite fun and addictive

Thalatte™
Thalatte™

Game Information

"The Treasure of Montezuma 4" is a Match 3 game. The game was developed by Alawar Entertainment and published by Buka Entertainment.

"The Treasure of Montezuma 4" is the fourth episode of "The Treasure of Montezuma." Previous episodes: "Treasure of Montezuma;" "Treasure of Montezuma 2" and "Treasure of Montezuma 3."

The Game Review

Game Visuals

I want to mention that the visuals in the game are well done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu.

Game Audio

I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.

Gameplay

There are two difficulty game modes to choose from: Casual and Expert. Only difference between these two difficulty game modes is how fast the time drains from the timer.

There are three different game modes: Story; Quest and Puzzle. The story mode is automatically unlocked at the start of the game. Completing this mode would unlock the quest mode. The puzzle mode is unlocked with the completion of the quest mode.

The features for each of the game modes: The story mode has roughly ninety-eight levels. Fourteen levels for each of the seven totems. The quest mode contains several task objectives that need to be completed. The puzzle mode comes with a collection of items that can unlock from solving the puzzles in that mode.

The objective of this game is rather simple. Match three or more like tokens to clear them from the board. The matches can be done horizontally or vertically. The game's scoring is based on how many tokens have been matched and the time that is left on the timer.

There are special power-up bonuses to help make matches a bit easier. There are totem power-up bonuses. They are unlocked at certain points in the game. The gold coin earned during the match 3 levels is used to upgrade the totems. The negative side of these totem power-up bonuses is that they require the same color token to match two or three times in order to activate them.

There is a replay ability tied to the match 3 levels. Replay them for better scoring and star rating.

Miscellaneous

There are five different trading cards to collect. Only three of those trading cards are given out by the game. There are several ways to get the rest of the trading card: Purchased from Steam's Community Market; Trade with friends; Booster Packs and its' Booster Pack Creator.

Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

Gamesjunkie
Gamesjunkie

Decent match 3. With story, quest and puzzle modes there's a lot to do. While I got this on sale, I wouldn't have been disappointed had I paid full price.

ViciousJawa
ViciousJawa

"Casual game".. yeah right, this game is really damn hard. You have been warned!

shadowcat
shadowcat

great match 3 game, plus was able to get it on sale for a good price. the plotline is a bit cheesy but the gameplay is fun.

murps
murps

i love this game so much! worth the buy :)

Samm
Samm

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is a casual match 3 game that practically doesn't bring almost anything new to the genre - but that doesn't mean the game is bad. While the only difference from other match 3 games is different upgrade system and graphics, this game still is a good casual fun - it's obvious the overused gameplay formula still works.

What's unique there is a motivation to match more groups of blocks with the same color consecutively. That triggers special totem events that does something to the game board, destroying the blocks or changing their color.

There's about hundred levels in basic story mode but after you beat this, there's also a Quest mode with even more levels - you don't have to worry this game would be too short.

Conclusion:

I'd specify the target group to people who want to relax but don't want to play free game with microtransactions and ads (like Candy Crush Saga). If you belong into this group, The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is a nice pick on sale for you. Others, looking for some more original match 3 game, I'd recommend checking Claws & Feathers, also by Alawar Entertainment.

Ann's Tiny Life
Ann's Tiny Life

The best gem swap game I've played in a long time.

KyleKirkpatrick123
KyleKirkpatrick123

I absolutely love the Montezuma series! I bought Montezuma, Montezuma 2, & Montezuma 3 from a different online store (Big Fish Games) and I love those games! I just recently found out that they had a fourth one and since it was on Sale on Steam I decided to buy it! It's an absolutely wonderful game! Definitly tops the first and second one, the third one and this one have about the same graphic quality but I like how this one incorporates an actualy storyline in it! Helps make gameplay a little more intersting! Not to mention something you'll find in this one compared to the other three is "Challenges." There are lots of challenges that you can play and re-play including stuff like trying to catch as many frogs as possible or trying to get the water to the plant in time. And like in the past three games, you still have the usual match 3 elements and the store is still present, but personally I liked the one from Montezuma 3 better as you actually had a choice in what you wanted to buy. Usually there is only one or two things you are allowed to buy at a time compared to five or six in Montezuma 3. But I won't complain much about it because all the powerups are still there from the previous games plus some new ones! And they can really help your gameplay, especially when you get into the harder levels!

Overall this is a great Match 3 game! It can definitely be very relaxing but it can also be very intense at times! If you are a fan of Casual and/or Relaxing Games or have played games like Bejeweled or Fishdom and you enjoyed them then I definitely think you will really enjoy this game! (And don't worry, you don't have to have the other 3 in order to understand what's going on! This is the only game to date with an actualy storyline in it so you won't miss too much!) With that being said, if you are not a person who likes Casual Games then I'm not 100% sure if you will find this game enjoyable. If you do, then I find the price of $6.99 very reasonable since usually for games like this I pay at least $9.99.

I recommend this game if you enjoy Match 3 Games or Casual Games!

Arkan01d
Arkan01d

Too much going on. I was actually looking forward to playing a casual game. Set the difficulty to casual and can't hardly beat anything past totem 1. The game adds in too many colors too soon. The powerups sit over the tiles so you can't see what color they are. The timelimit is just too unforgiving for a casual player. I know I'm the minority on this game, but it's just not for me.

Srada
Srada

I would exchange this for the first version of Montezuma, which loads much faster, shows much clearer, and comes with much more simple fun, not so many annoying new settings. I hate the new gold-silver-bronze time limit, the nasty frogs, the ice, the torch which was designed to fade 1% every second, and the so-called archaeological grounds in which god knows how many craps were burried. I want the simple and exciting match-3 which made me happy when I was bored and need stuff to let it go, but not so interested in solving random annoying manmade problems. This would ruin my leisure time.

煞费苦心,设计谜题,导致玩家在游戏中不得不瞻前顾后, 本属其特色的爽快感大幅降低。希望开发者能够少一点套路,多一些真诚。

Chari
Chari

This game teaches you that plain random is stronger than your bestest efforts.

10/10, more important life lessons in casual games.

Anonymous
Anonymous

can't get the game to pull up in steam to play

IFIYGD
IFIYGD

Overall 7/10

I remember the original Treasures Of Montezuma. That was so long ago, I don't even remember where I played it. But it was an interesting variation on Match 3 puzzle games, which I have always enjoyed for time wasting.

That said...
TToM4 has decently good graphics, not too hard on a toaster like mine.

There is an annoying audio glitch which causes the background music to get stuck in a loop during gameplay, repeating the same few notes over and over again. I hated the repetitive tones in TToM1. really liked that the music was dofferent in TToM4. And well, it sticks in that same annoying repetition as TToM1. Luckily, you don't need sound to play this game, so music off solves that issue. It does not affect gameplay in any way.

Lots of content compared to other versios of the game.
Good amount of levels in all but Quest mode (you can beat Quest mode without completing every level.)

Steam achievements are nice, some are easy, some are easy but take a ton of grinding, others are just difficult. But all are reachable. Trading cards are nice too, though I doubt I will try for this badge. Gems please, lol!

Would I pay full price for this game? NOPE. And I didn't. But if you like the TToM series and Match 3 games, this has enough twists on the standard genre to make it worth a buy on sale.

Now I have to get back to wasting time on TToM4 again, while my morning coffee kicks in. :)

(Late edit for typo corrections, long after this review was first posted.)

Oxie Moron
Oxie Moron

Exception match game that incorporates much more than just matching. Hightly recommended.

Enrico
Enrico

It has very complex visuals with quite bad animations. Sometimes you feel like the game is just winning for you as, even if you make a bad choice, the falling pieces will create a series of bonus. It constantly tries to give you hints, which is annoying and I'm not sure if it can be turned off. Even though I liked the iPad version of this game some years ago, I can not recommend this game for PC.

CGFW
CGFW

This is a game where I think success depends on your patience and luck, not on your skill because all that you can do matching 3 to 5 tokens. For casual gamers this may be ok as it is just a matter of time pass. But for achievement hunters this may be even tedious if you wish to grab all the achievements. Playing this game for a long time and by grabbing all the achievements, I think, each of the rounds has a game winning set [Algorithm] and until you will not get that set you need to try and try. By buying all totems and bonuses will help you enough though. I don’t know why this game has a very positive rating but as an achievement hunter I can’t; sorry!

Statuary warning: Too much colours and flashes may be injurious for your eyes!

sammoticus proximo
sammoticus proximo

The plot is cringeworthy laughable but it's a relatively fun Bejeweled knockoff. The achievements are a bit of a grinder but no biggie.

Taller-Paul [iRiSHMAN]
Taller-Paul [i…

I hate to do this i really do, no matter how much i try to give this game a chance after 10 hours of playing it has left me with nothing but a headache, i hbought it on sale for £0.99 and not in a bundle of course i could have requested a refund after 2 hours but i decided to give it a fair trial as it could have been a diamond in the rough ....

I selected casual mode as i like to multitask ..... there's nothing casual about this game pretty much every level is random and purely down to luck if it sets you up with a good pattern of gems however most of the time the most you can match is 3 gems, the buffs only mostly work if you match the same set of gems twice in a row however that is very rare, there's an ingame shop that lets you buy buffs however as a newbie you would expect to be able to level up quick ... well i am level 12 and so far have only managed to purchase 3 buffs which rarely appear, the coins are very few apart with a buff costing around 280 coins and a level completed awarding 5 coins.....

To me i thought selecting "casual" would mean that i wouldn't really have a time limit and just meet a score or have a higher time limit than normal but nope ... you have 2 minutes to complete the level there's no extra time tiles each sub-level constantly levels up to be harder giving you double the amount of things to do within the same 2 minutes, if the gems matching isn't hard enough you have to clear random objects like coins, or frogs hopping from square to square which distracts your line of sight matching squares gets difficult.

To make things even worse ... you can only go up or down and left or right, click and drag doesn't work most of the time, it feels like a bad port from a buttoned game pad or something as it prefers that you click the gems indivually rather than swipe or drag with the mouse and every time it doesn't let you make the move you lose valuable seconds .... so no after 2 hours of stress i've had enough, not to say i won't return although it is punishment, i hate starting things i can't finish.... if maybe there's more work done to fix the bugs and change the casual not to be as fast paced (yes i heard there's a normal free mode but you have to complete story mode first which is fast paced) then maybe i would change my review, however i will not hold my breath as they've released their 5th installment .....

Also my eyes hurt there's way too much going on on the screen to focus for 2 minutes at a time your straining to find the right tiles there's too many bright colours and even some visual effects and backgrounds mess with your eyes, i'm even seeing the refresh rate of the screen which isn't normal unless you've strained your eyes too much, the other reviews which are negative are pretty much saying the exact same things i've already covered, although not many people want to slate a cheap game such as this.

MiraculousMouse
MiraculousMouse

Great game. Lots of ways to play this game too, there is a puzzle mode, quest mode and a story mode included. The detailed graphics of the totems are really amazing, whoever designed them has some talent. Well worth the money - it's like bejeweled on steroids with a strong theme behind it. Really had fun playing this game.

KDD!^putler kaputt 26/93
KDD!^putler ka…

Basically it's the same as 3 — with a lot of visual noise, hardcore randomness and hard challenge, but finally working without bugs and having a lot of game modes. Though achievements are luck based and\or extremely grindy.

Kyzka
Kyzka

Sorry I haven't written any Steam reviews for a while, I've been too busy grinding. Yes this game requires you to grind your way to the top. I've seriously done more grinding than Tony Hawk at a skate rink, I've been doing more grinding than my grand pa's teeth at night, and I’ve done more grinding than a Barista at the most famous coffee house in Italy. Just grind, grind, grind and grind. Thanks Alawar!!! https://www.alawar.com/

This 3 match game is a serious improvement in comparison to Montezuma 3 which is sold with a terrible bug attached, however it doesn't mean that the game is without some faults of its own. This 3 match version follows the love story of two ancient lovers who are being chased by an evil butterfly hater. Seriously, in opening shot the bad guy kills a butterfly just to prove how evil he is. The good prince makes escape into an open portal to another world, but his princess gets shot and killed before she is able to enter. Cut to the future where we learn that her soul becomes one with a future librarian blonde Anna. Yes once she was brunette, now she is blonde. She finds the ancient book travels back to the pyramids where the talking totems are (no archaeologist has ever noticed the talking totems before?) and unlocks their powers to re-open the portal where she is immediately re-united with her ancient boyfriend who has not aged over the last 1,000 years and happens to just be standing at the portal opening forever still holding onto her ancient crown because he has nothing better to do in that portal world. When he places the crown on her head the future Anna is obliterated and ancient Anna comes to the fore where they kiss and hug and provide for what is supposed to be an awwww moment.

It's not an awwww moment, it’s a seriously WTH moment. You just killed someone to bring someone back. That’s MESSED UP!!! Is future Anna still in there? Does she have multiple personalities now? Why didn't lover dream boat prince just kill himself so that his soul could float into some future existence body and try and hunt his beloved Anna down through eharmony? Oh that's right because he is stuck in a portal where he just gets to sit there twiddling his thumbs for an eternity while Anna does all the work. Loser!!!

The 3 match mechanics are practically the same as the previous instalments, the main objective is to make simultaneous colour matches like a blue 3 match followed by another 3 blue match, this unlocks the totem which provides its magic on the board grid, from more time, to score multiplier, to mass colour changing, to fire ball exploding, to other perks all depending on which colours you match simultaneously. Blocks that contain gems will help in multiplying your score more than normal blocks do. You have a minute - 2 minutes to reach the score requirement needed to unlock 1 of 13 latches on each of the 7 totem portals (91 challenges).

In addition to this you have a quest mode which requires you to meet a series of tasks while 3 matching trying to produce a gold rank on each location on the map. This can be quite challenging for instance one task was to make 10, 4 matches within a minute and believe me when I say this the board never makes it easy.

There is also a puzzle mode. Which has 8 different types of matching games like catch the frog while you three match, to drop the golden coins etc. There is a bronze, silver and gold rank with each one providing a specific item for your ancient collection. Here is where the grinding really kicks in and the weakest most frustrating design development in the game. As proven by the PS3 community, the items rewarded from the puzzle board is actually quite random and is not based on your skill at all. So to collect all the items necessary in the collection just requires you to farm them until the game chooses to reward you with everything. Since you can't plan anything, this side of the game becomes a chore once you realise that. A very dumb mechanic to the game.

Still with patience and a week of your life you should be able to 100 percent the game and the task does feel rewarding when you have done it, as there are a significant many challenges in your journey to do so. A 3 match game that has a personality of its own that separates itself from the iconic such as 'Candy Crush', but still doesn't seem to measure up to when you save the chocolate mountain from the evil black liquorice monster.

Below is me showing you what the game looks like once 100% I also show you the last level 7-13. Thanks for reading.
https://youtu.be/pYjNFf2Qp-4

Ghetto Gecko
Ghetto Gecko

Hey,

I am a really big fan of match-3 games. But there aren't much games, which can entertain so many hours like the TOM-series.
With the totems and the boni you have always the special flow, which doesn't make the game boring. The difficulties and modi makes the game very attractive and challenging.
Also I have to mention the awesome background-music, which make the game-fun even more intense. There is a part of a music, which even made me goosebumps. But sadly this part come always pretty late, that I had to intentionally play the LVL a bit slower to be able to enjoy this moment :)

I haven't much critism, but if someone want to hear some, then here some little things:

I was very unlucky on the puzzle slotmachines, to get the calendar: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=928944640

As you can see on the right corner, it took 32 tries and this was a bit annoying at the end.
Also to get the "Eternal Flame"- Achievement was a bit annoying, because you had to play the completed story-modelvls again and again and you didn't earned any high XP or gold anymore. There it would have been a bit better to add this gamemode to the puzzles too.

A bit strange were the names of the playerlvls. In the early LVL you were some kind of "Master" and on a higher LVL you became a simple "Collector". That's how I call it doing a great carrier! :)

I really recommend this game and give it a 10/10. TOM-5 is already ready to play!

KillaDrop
KillaDrop

Feels the title/brand "Montezuma" was sold to another team.... sfx and animation feels laggy and not professional as in monte3... ... that´s my opinion... it´s kinda boring...

Vospi
Vospi

Perfect, colorful, vivid, amazing way to waste your life.
Do not touch this thing — unless this sounds perfect to you.

iluvjonesoda
iluvjonesoda

A amazing take on a match "3" game. Worth every dollar!!! Hours spent, achievements not to hard to get. Lots of different modes to keep you entertained! Story mode, quest mode, puzzle. Very good game!

cmborders
cmborders

I liked this game at first, easy enought to get through the levels. Although, if you like to get all the achivements, this game is ridiculous. If you don't care about those, then it's an okay game.

2nd Class Janitor - Wilco
2nd Class Jani…

Tags: Casual - Match3
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: The best of the Treasures of Montezuma series is still just a ton of visual effects and a time attack on the Bejeweled formula. I prefer 7 Wonders series for its cleaner and charming approach.

This is bejeweled in a decent engine and decent res assets. It uses animated menus that are thematic and very pleasant. The audio feels rich and rather upbeat. The grind to unlock mechanic present in earlier Montezuma games feels much more elegantly displayed and proposed to the player. With large circular engraved stone plates with symbols of what you are unlocking. The 3D model of your overall progress as a ziggurat and the unlockable perks as strange little creatures was a nice touch. I fear eventually this game would be guilty of just spamming the game in connections within connections as you unlock everything, at which point perhaps the game's unlocked additional modes would help salvage the title's longevity. At that point you would probably have gotten your money's worth if that wasnt the case...

Narratively the game ditches the adventure clicker exploration aspect in favor of Visual novel portrait style plot which works out better for my tastes.

Overall it is one of the better picks in this series but still does not really stand out. The time attack can be stressful. Redundancy with a lot of other titles using identical mechanics.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/223000/7_Wonders_Ancient_Alien_Makeo…

Helevorn
Helevorn

I'm not a mobile player at all, so I often don't get the comparisons that in these years many reviewers do with games available for smartphones.
I'm sort of a super retro player, it's like I'm still living in the '90s (I was born in the '80s I'm not that old ahah).. and match-3 games have always been one of my favourite type of puzzle games to play, although they have a big difficulty to overcome, each one of them - the concept of matching 3, 4 or 5 tiles is very simple so a developer is forced to add the most interesting, new and funny mechanics and such that he can think about in order not to create the copy of games that in the '90s and before the smartphones already filled Flash games websites, consoles and so on.
This game manages perfectly to me to create a new, addicting kind of match-3 games with many game modes, many different tasks and achievements to reach and all within a nice pre-Columbian American atmosphere.
Of course we're not talking about great visual novels or RPGs, the core of the game is still match-3, but the game manages to never grow old and boring for many hours.
Graphics are very nice (although the game itself is quite heavy if one takes into account the fact that it should be a puzzle game) too, and it's also translated in my native tongue which can be bad or good but means always that some efforts have been made into a language (Italian) that isn't as spoken as Spanish or Chinese and even Russian and so on.
To me, it's a very good game in its genre.

cheekiyaya
cheekiyaya

Ah, it is hard to say recommend or not for this.

The game is good, the graphics are acceptable, storyline is lame though.

Did I enjoy this game? NO. I totally didn't enjoy this game, but that was not because this game is bad - well, some people are just NOT suited to play this style of game! *points at self*

I like how this game is not just the usual match-3, there are various "puzzles/modes" integrated into this game, together with other tile-clearing incentives. The normal mode with multi-colored tiles is so HARD! (For me at least). I like that there is no time limitation (a big plus), BUT well, the timer runs out damn fast! And your achievements will look very sad :(

I think for myself, this is a good "in-between-game" game. Between games, for those who play DotA or any game that requires some waiting time (for friends to join, etc), this is a go-for game.

Ah, good game, but not my game :( I will not give up though!

-----------------

REVIEW UPDATE (after 100% achievement)

Perservance is the key to success. When I started this game, I didn't know I would be able to even get 100% achievement because I am simply too...dumb for this game. I tried and tried. Some levels I tried more than 100 times (Yeah, I am THAT slow in games).

But you know what? I cried in joy when I earned the last achievement. If I have given up since the beginning, I would not be able to achieve what I have achieved today.

So if you are like me - handicap in gaming but secretly hoping to be awesome someday, remember - DON'T GIVE UP. Keep trying, no matter how hard it is. When you earn your last achievement, you will be in tears of joy.

PuzzleQueenJ
PuzzleQueenJ

I enjoyed and enjoy playing Montezuma a lot. First, the story is sufficiently solid. Second,
the music is good except for the part when the flute is played. This part I find slightly annoying.
Probably because it signals that I have lost out on the gold and silver medals haha.

Most of the challenges have been built up very well. The only level I find boring is that level
where you just accumulate points.

It is also very nice to play this game because the payment is one time with no additional
costs.

XJ9
XJ9

What the hell is this 3D nonsense? I guess it was a victim of that lame 3D trend popular back in 10 years ago.

This game is not THAT bad as a standalone game, but as a sequel to a great game is pretty bad, and that makes me kinda upset.

-From the visual point of view, everything went worse - bad 3D menu, bad in-game UI design, and spooky 3D characters.
-Soundwork is worse here as well, lower overall sounds quality and music is not as good as in the 3rd one.
+Gameplay is not that different from the 3rd one I still prefer 3rd one tho.
+steam cards
+steam achievements

SO overall this game is not THAT bad but it has enough positive votes from other people so it won't suffer from my negative review because I can't recommend this game when there are The Treasures of Montezuma 3

Schism
Schism

Found it in a bundle for which i paid the price of a cigarette pack. All and all is a nice game, rather addictive and with low skill ceiling . It has a minimal story, decent animations and a satisfying sound. It is challenging if played on expert difficulty, but nothing extreme.

It is a bad choice if you want to invest time in getting the achievements done for steam. The game proves to be a grinding nightmare, because it lacks any sort of replay value. You will complete the full game in roughly 15 hours and you will grind 35 more to get the sweet 100% completion.

All and all is a good buy if found on a sale. It is a good experience for any fan of match-3 games or casual gamers.

yongh701
yongh701

Wonderful Casual game! A lot of new elements are created in Match-3 Game.

Doomoo
Doomoo

A lot of love clearly went into this game. It's a classic match 3 done very right. Even better than Bejeweled series. I had a blast the whole time I was playing this game.

An anime girl
An anime girl

Broken.
For some unknown reason the game runs at like 5fps, which is completely bizarre given how simple it should be to run.
In addition, trying to disable fullscreen mode simply doesn't work. Attempting to fix any of these issues only created more issues. Avoid.

keturn
keturn

Not a game to play if you don't want to race against the clock.

I thought it might be, at first, because you don't fail a level when you run out of time. And the next level does unlock in the story mode. But you don't get any coins for it.

And without coins, you don't get the upgrades that give the fun chain and bonus effects.

The levels are pretty much the same in the later chapters as in the earlier ones, they just have higher requirements, so if you haven't been buying enough upgrades they're just longer and more grindy.

Not a lot of level variety, not a lot of time to consider your moves, and even when you do, there's not many tactical decisions to make. You don't always have a lot of options, and placement and effect of bonuses is often random.

The game is graphically pretty and splashy, though when a piece is covered by a bonus or malus, I often had trouble telling what color it was. (which is important, because you still have to match against those.)

asle
asle

Obviously one of the best match 3 game.

Swesent
Swesent

Game looked great at first, until I realized that there is no possible way to turn off the available move hint. So you're stuck with an awful hint arrow always visible which distracts a ton from the gameplay. (The arrow doesn't even hint at the best available move either.) How you can make such a stupid feature choice for a game is beyond me! Refunded immediately and would never recommend for anyone who doesn't want their hand force-held throughout the entire game! AVOID!

bp
bp

Carried it around from one side of the country too the other; still good!

LMLF
LMLF

Great volume, tons of different playable mods, unique and soothing background music (wish it has more variety though. Maybe I have not played enough?). You purchase upgrades to improve your progression in game, allowing you to come back where you suffered and try gold medals again. I usually stick to match-3 games where you need to play with only your skills, but things blowing up here and there with upgrades are quite satisfying nonetheless.

PS. I got this game on sale, but paying full price wouldn't hurt considering the sheer volume it has.

Darkin20
Darkin20

Been on a bit of a match 3 game binge and this one hits that mark rather well. Interesting power ups, Lots of levels, campy story, lots of achievements.

rennette123
rennette123

It is a fun and challenging game. Anyone who likes match three games will enjoy playing this game. It also has hidden objects game play included within this game. There is a decent story that actually makes sense which I love about this game. Most match 3 games are sadly lacking when it comes to a story line. The game gets harder as you progress through the game but not so hard that you can't win but you will have to play it a few times if you want the highest rank which is gold. It is truly a challenging game. If you want an easy game then this one might not be the game for you. If you don't mind settling for Bronze then get this game by all means. Steam runs sales on the price of this game. Just wait till its a lower price then buy it and play
it. That way your not out of too much money if its too hard of a game for you. You can always trade it and get and a different game also.

tootiefred
tootiefred

I really enjoy both the simple, relatively child-friendly storyline of this game and the puzzle aspect. It is a great way to relax and helps enormously to distract me from my pain symptoms.

Matrix
Matrix

The Treasures of Montezuma is one of the best match 3 game series on PC. But I don't think Montezuma 4 is a good one IF you want to 100% the game.

The story mode where you upgrade your totems and powerups is really fun (played it on expert difficulty). Quest mode is quite short and you can complete it in an hour or 2 at most, but once you get to the puzzle mode - the game becomes so frustratingly repetitive and full of rng.

You will have to replay the same modes over and over again, and hope to get the last missing piece. It took me more than 25h to collect every single item in puzzle mode. I will never play this game ever again, even though I really like the core gameplay. But damn. F this puzzle mode and the grind to level 100. It ruined the whole experience for me.

herwryness
herwryness

Even on casual it's difficult and sometimes all the bonuses make things hard to follow but I'm enjoying it thus far.

RetroBlast
RetroBlast

A great casual game, one of the better "match 3" games. Fast paced, with constant action and reactions with a unique "upgrade" system as you progress.

If you're looking for something to "zone out" with, this will fit the bill. A polished effort all around.

JANKO_🐟
JANKO_🐟

===[ 🕛 Game length ]===
☐ Really Short (0 - 2 hours)
☐ Short (2 - 8 hours)
☑ Normal (8 - 24 hours)
☐ Long (24+ hours)
☐ Endless

===[ ☠ Difficulty ]===
☐ Piece Of Cake
☐ EZ
☑ Medium
☐ Hard
☐ Impossible
☐ Dark Souls

===[ ⯁ Story ]===
☑ It Doesn't Have
☐ Fantastic
☐ Good
☐ Average
☐ Bad

===[ ۞ Gameplay ]===
☐ Excellent
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Bad
☐ Very bad

===[ ❤ Audience ]===
☑ Everyone
☐ Young (0 - 15)
☐ Adult (18+)
☑ Casual Players
☐ Pro Players

===[ ♬ Music, Audio Effects ]===
☐ It Doesn't Have
☐ Fantastic
☑ Good
☐ Average
☐ Bad

===[ ☢ Graphics ]===
☐ Masterpiece
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ OK
☐ Bad
☐ Potato

===[ ★ Requirments ]===
☐ High End Rich PC
☑ Fast PC
☐ Medium PC
☐ Minimum PC
☐ Potato (90' PC)

===[ 🏁 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧Bugs ]===
☐ No Bugs Happened
☑ Tiny Bugs
☐ Few Bugs
☐ Lot Of Bugs
☐ The Bugs Game

===[ € Price/Quality ]===
☐ Free
☑ Worth The Price
☐ Expensive (Sale Waiting Game)
☐ Better To Burn Money (Refund it if you can to burn them)

===[ ✔Others ]===
- Multiplayer: NO
+ Singleplayer: YES
- Can be repetetive (if you want level 100 achievement)

CSaintD
CSaintD

This is an older game, but still very satisfying to play even now. The explosions are lovely and the game play is very fast paced. It is timed and you have to match quickly to get through most levels, so it is not for the relaxed player. The game has 3 different modes: Story, Quest, and Puzzle. Each mode is fun to play and gives you a sense of completion. It takes quite a while to grind through and get all the achievements. I must have played the puzzle mode (Harvest) over 70 times just to get the funds to upgrade the Ziggurat fully, but it was worth it in the end to get all achievements.
If you like M3s and like a challenge, this one is for you!

ZappaSlasher
ZappaSlasher

Bejeweled had its copycats back in the day, and Treasures Of Montezuma was by far one of the better clones to come onto the scene.

Fox
Fox

Lots of match 3 games and they are quite tough, they are themed.

HMK
HMK

If you've liked its predecessors, you'll like this. Very fun to play

JFF44
JFF44

It's a fun twist on your casual Match-3 games, but...the achievements are a pain in the butt to be 100% completed, and the screen is always that bright for God Sake.

P.S, you might need a pair of sunglasses for this game.

You know what could be good?

Look at those useless "Collectibles" in the "Puzzle Mode"? Imagine if you can get some rewards upon completion the collection, EXP, COINS, or something to lessen the GRIND FOR THE LAST 2 achievements...that would be nice

kris.aalst
kris.aalst

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is a fun and well-thought-out Match 3 game that's pleasing to the eye. I definitely recommend this game to players who like Match 3 games and I'd even recommend it to people who'd like to try a Match 3 game and see what the genre is all about. Although the general consensus is that Bejeweled 3 is the best Match 3 game out there, I think The Treasures of Montezuma 4 certainly holds its own with Bejeweled 3.

Story

There is a story mode, which you'll want to play first, but the story is paper-thin and clichéd, so not worth talking about.

Gameplay

Match 3 games are games where you need to combine three or more of the same variety of tiles, usually by swapping two of those tiles. The Treasures of Montezuma 4 does that and it does it well, so it's a good Match 3 game.

The mechanics that set this Match 3 game apart are the totems, which make the constant objective of the game to combine subsequent combos of the same-colored tiles. Every time you combine 3 or more tiles of a certain color, its totem shows up in a corner of the screen. If you manage to combine 3 or more tiles of the same color, the totem will greatly help you advance e.g. by adding time to your counter or by shooting a fireball or a lightning bolt at the board, destroying a bunch of tiles.

Some of the tiles have a gem on them. The more gems you collect by including such tiles in your combos, the more points you score.

Combining four or more tiles of the same color adds a boon to one of the other tiles e.g. dynamite that explodes when it's included in a combo, destroying nearby tiles, lighting that destroys all the tiles that are on the same line as the tile with the lightning on it, or an hourglass that replenishes the timer a bit.

In theory, you can take all the time you want to finish each level. But when you start a level, a timer will start. For the first one or two minutes, it'll be gold-colored, then it'll turn silver for a minute or two and finally it'll be bronze for a minute or two. Finishing the level as quickly as possible yields more coins as your reward.

These coins can be used to buy upgrades to pretty much every element of the game I have mentioned: totems (e.g. enhancing the fire or lightning damage they cause), the maximum number of gems on the board, the yield of the dynamite explosions, the number of rows destroyed by the lightning, how much time an hourglass adds, etc.

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 offers are a couple of game modes. The story mode is the best place to start as it unlocks upgrades, so you'll be able to use your upgrades when playing the other modes.

Quest mode has you clearing levels on paths that each lead to a temple. You're to find the two temples that hold half of an artifact you need to complete the quest. During each of the quest levels, you have to fulfill some special conditions in order to finish the level. Some of these can be quite challenging.

Puzzle mode offers 8 types of 'puzzles' which means you'll have to fulfill special conditions while clearing tiles e.g. destroy frogs that continuously hop from one tile to the next, clear a path from one place on the board to another, make sure a number of lumps of gold reach the bottom of the board, etc. Some puzzle modes are more challenging than others.

These game modes are reminiscent of the game modes in the pinnacle of Match 3 games, Bejeweled 3, and some are just as fun while others are just as challenging (maybe even frustrating, depending on your taste), although I do feel Bejeweled 3 has more replayability in the long run than The Treasures of Montezuma 4.

Graphics and sound

I think The Treasures of Montezuma 4 is very pleasing to the eye: it looks nice, its colors are vibrant and effects like explosions or lightning look good. The only gripe I have is when a tile has an effect on it, causing it to glow, it's sometimes hard to see exactly which color of tile is below it. You can look closely at its shape, as each type of tile also has a different shape besides a different color, but even the shape of the tile is sometimes not clear due to the special effect.

Sound effects are adequate and clear, so no complaints there. The music fits the Aztec theme of the game well and I found it very pleasing, except for the music during one of the puzzles because it sounded like a techno remix of the other songs.

On Steam's extra features

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 has 5 Steam Trading Cards. You'll get 3 while running the game.

The 32 Steam Achievements are varied. Some come naturally while playing the game e.g. destroy a number of tiles (of a certain color) or make a combo of a certain number of tiles. Other achievements are awarded for more completionist tasks such as complete the story mode, complete each quest in quest mode and gather all of the items you can get as a reward from puzzle mode. Finally, there are three or four achievements that require a lot of grinding. Although there is a workaround for one of these, which still requires a lot of times restarting the game until you get the prize you need, it will take completionists a while to 100% this game.

Evil Dan
Evil Dan

Good match game. If your into this kind of game then it's a good buy.

jessythatshere
jessythatshere

A good match 3 game. There are lots of different modes.

意味ちゃん
意味ちゃん

Good and old Montezuma game. But I hate how hints are ridiculously stupid like it always suggests the worst option. For example, there is possible 4x chain, and it says do 3x. Or when you are playing puzzle and a combo can accomplish an objective (let's say Spring), and it doesn't suggest it, it suggests the one with no benefit, also consider that it was right on the river, it literally could just show to move it on the possible river to increase Spring %, but it didn't LOL! If you are in a hurry of course these stupid hints will ruin your game. BTW Anna has got some booty, IDK why, but for some reason she is low-key top-model Lara Croft.

NIXXION44
NIXXION44

One of the best match 3 series on steam. It has modern looking graphix with particle effects to mach. The gameplay is well polished. At first I really didn't like the idea of needing to break blocks on the bottom to collect gold and complete the level. I thought to my self “This is ridiculous scrounging along the bottom row for gold nuggets” and then it all made sense. There is upgradedable perks and instant power ups. It is well balanced enough that perks actually help. Adding replay value and incentive to go back and do previous levels to earn more coin for perks. Not only that, but the perks are kinda fun and add to the matching colors theme. Giving you a multiplier for making matching of the color in row. All the match combinations you would expect like (T) or (L) work and reward you for doing so. The cascading effect works. The sound track is good and sets the atmosphere well. It is well paced. It rarely feels dull or slow and thats only when you have gotten yourself stuck. If you are tired of unbalanced buggy or sadly outdated match three type games I highly recommend starting this series.

Steven Silverheart
Steven Silverheart

-GRAPHICS-
☐ Perfect
☐ Very Good
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Very bad

-GAMEPLAY-
☐ Perfect
☐ Very Good
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Very bad

-SOUND EFFECTS-
☐ Perfect
☐ Very Good
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Very bad

-MUSIC-
☐ Perfect
☐ Very Good
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Very bad

-SYSTEM REQ.-
☐ High End System
☐ Very Good System
☐ Good System
☐ Mid. Range System
☑ Bad System
☐ Low End System

-DIFFICULTY-
☐ Extremely Difficult
☐ Very Difficult
☑ Difficult
☐ Normal Difficulty
☐ Easy to play
☐ Very easy difficulty

-STORY-
☐ Perfect
☐ Very Good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☑ Very bad

-GAME LENGTH-
☐ Very Long
☐ Long
☑ Average
☐ Short
☐ Very Short

TheMediaDiorama
TheMediaDiorama

The Treasures of Montezuma 4 values the simple yet addictive gameplay of match-3 gimmicks, whilst over-stuffing the jewelled Aztec temples with more modes than Anna can handle.

WHAT I LIKED:
+ Story mode consisting of over 90 levels? Check. Additional quest mode featuring new challenges and infinite replayability? Check. Puzzle mode enabling the player to access their favourite game mechanics and, again, offer endless replay value? Check. There's even a boss battle! Emperor Montezuma has clearly stuffed as much gold into this treasure chest as he can, resulting in a large yet undemanding casual experience that everyone can immediately access.
+ Free the Gods' powers. An interesting mechanic used throughout all of the modes is the ability to summon helpful powers from coloured totems that relate to coloured tiles the player must match. For example matching blue tiles will summon the corresponding totem, match blue tiles again and the totem will unleash a power that will change the game board itself. These can range from summoning useful bonuses, including score multipliers, to a wave of devastating fireballs. This mechanic invokes a slight strategy when matching tiles, not found in other games within the genre.
+ Bonuses, totems and cosmetic upgrades for the Ziggurat that the player levels up can all be purchased with gold coins that are earned throughout each level. Obtaining gold scores may prove difficult until all of the bonuses have been fully upgraded, gently suggesting that the player replays the earlier levels for higher scores, and consequently furthering that replay value.

WHAT I DISLIKED:
- Anna, and her quest for destiny fulfilment, is terrible and a shoddily written segment of the story mode. Granted, these casual games force themselves to include such drivel as this, but it adds absolutely nothing. No one cares, that's a guarantee! Just a waste of precious text and time.
- The fine balance between skill and luck is difficult to substantiate within match-3 games. Montezuma 4 however relies on the luck of randomised board layouts to generate its difficulty. Certain modes, such as the "match pairs" and "sprinkler" puzzle levels, rely on luck. The player could be granted with an easy layout that could be completed in a few seconds, only for the next layout to screw their high score run by having imperative tiles nestle in the corners (the hardest areas to match tiles...). The same can be applied to attaining gold scores. The luck of the tiles being positioned in such a way to obtain combinations and evoke totem powers is incredibly noticeable, decreasing that skill-based demand considerably.
- The final boss battle was easier than some of the first set of story mode levels...

VERDICT:
5/10 score multiplier tiles

SinfulWun
SinfulWun

Pros:
- Steam Achievements
- Steam Trading Cards
- Goes on sale often enough to get for a reasonable price
- Replay ability with multiple modes unlocked as the story progresses and after beating it
- Mostly relaxing music and I really enjoyed one track in particular

Cons:
- The story itself is bland and boring.
- Gets boring quickly
- The game would benefit from the ability to pick which background track you want to hear

Opinion:
Usually for games like this I prefer to get 100% completion before writing a review as I typically enjoy them but the last few I did get after the story and quest mode have been a real slog and the others will take an unreasonable amount of time. It's fine for people who are enjoying the game but I doubt anyone will really grind to level 100 or buy all of the temple decorations with better game choices out there. The game itself is decent but some of the scoring mechanics are weird and I personally dislike how they chose to extend game play by forcing you to beat later levels to unlock power ups to make getting gold on earlier levels obtainable. Most of the power ups are rather mediocre and the unpredictability of some of them feels largely negative as they ruin board control entirely which is important in these types of games. Honestly there are much better match 3 games out there and some are even cheaper but if you like the Montezuma games and match 3 games in general pick it up during a sale if you need something to play. It's not bad it's exactly what it says it is but be prepared for a real grind if you're a completionist.

Psychedelic High
Psychedelic High

Good match game. If your into this kind of game then it's a good buy.

bolounitlne
bolounitlne

Achievements and cards do not work on Mac.

Xas
Xas

Match 3 game.
Playing on Expert settings,
Overly sophisticated and Complicated.
Zero Relax,
in too much of a Rush due to the quick transitions and running Clock.
Blinding to the eyes.
Little control as the automated blastings and explosions based on RNG plays.
Extreme grind
throughout the Story, Puzzle mode collectibles, lvl 100 achievement, and lastly enough credits to purchase all the pyramid ' decorations ' for one achievement.

Game bores me barely one third into it, tedious in Puzzle Mode,
Tiresome,
played for the sake of completion once started.

No to Recommendation.

ottocrows
ottocrows

fun and fresh, hours of family friendly fun, why's her hair like that doe

Lunya
Lunya

Sooo hard for a casual game.

Why you do this to me?

Ryan
Ryan

A pretty fun game, overall. Not as polished as the Bejeweled series, but still good. Enough modes to keep you playing quite a few hours. The only minor annoyance about the game is that in some modes where something is covering up the gems (like the frogs in frog mode, or ice in ice mode) it can be difficult to see what color is underneath.

Woargh
Woargh

I like this game, but its no Bejeweled. The animations and graphics can get very busy, you'll lose your cursor way too many times. Personally I got use to the busy gameplay and enjoyed it overall, but it would have been more relaxing if they had simplified the animations a bit.
Its easy to get 100% achievements and there isn't any real challenge to the game. I love listening to podcasts while playing games like this, super casual and relaxing. Good price tag compared to overall feel and hours of gameplay.

EVAN
EVAN

The "Street Fighter II" of Casual/Puzzle Games

Completed it about 5 times, Still exciting! Love it!
Best game in the series.

Get Squinkies
Get Squinkies

Better than ANY match three on steam AND on the phone. No P2W BS or grinding. Love it, even though I'm not a fan of the genera.

Kamster
Kamster

Just too random, you will usually either have no moves or beat the level in 20 seconds with everything exploding automatically. It's also hard to tell what colors the pieces are. There's usually some effect overlayed on top of them that obscures or changes the tint of the gem, and it's hard to tell if what's behind is blue or purple, red or orange, etc. The gems should have been designed to be simple shapes and colors--they're too busy.

animallover1313
animallover1313

I enjoyed this game. It has replayability, which is nice. Many match 3 games don't. The different types of puzzles are what make this game worth playing for me.

helix2
helix2

I had originally thought this was going to be a thumbs up, but the deeper I got into the game, the more I disliked it. I guess I am about halfway thru, and it has simply gotten brutally hard, with advancement made arduous and grindy.
There are two styles of the basic match three game, one is about speed, and the other is about being thoughtful. This game rapidly becomes both, and trust me, they don't work well together.
You've got a time, so speed is good, but you also build an array of power-ups and bonuses that you need to be looking for. Not easy when you are rushing. Especially when half of them are about matching the same color twice, something that rapidly becomes harder and harder as you get in to each level.
The game will let you finish a level after the time limits are thru, but you get nothing for it, so you not only fall short, but get no better.
You can go back and play the earlier levels over (and over and over) for five gold a shot, but as you need three to four hundred coins to get one of the medium level upgrades, the grind-level surpasses the fun of replaying a level many times over.
And as often as I find myself with the time for the bronze level victory ticks off, and the level takes you several more minutes to beat, you know the balance is way off.
And this is on the easy (casual) level!
No, this is a pass. I paid less then seventy cents for it, and even that was perhaps more than it is worth.
Two thumbs down.
ADDENDUM: On further play, I find that you can get more coins thru the puzzle and quest options, but they become available later in the game, quest only after you have finished the story mode, which is when you needed the upgrades those coins would buy. This is very weird, and not enough to change my review.

Moira Offred
Moira Offred

Game doesn't even run. Zero support.

The Notorious C.O.C
The Notorious C.O.C

This is a high speed match 3 game. The focus is on speed. You have to match as fast as possible to beat the time limit you are given. That's good, it is fun. However, there are a number of terrible design decisions that can really make this game infuriating to play.

First, there are way too many things that slow you down. The animations on the totem powers and bonus tokens take way too long and lock you out of interacting with the token they are targeting. That often forces you to wait until the animation finishes, which given the time constraint, isn't great.

By far the most annoying thing however, is how completely luck dependent the game is. The gold times are extremely tight, and often, are completely impossible unless you are lucky enough to constantly get good token drops. This is a problem because the RNG algorithm that determines what drops isn't very keen on making sure you always have moves available. This is especially prevalent on the challenge levels that are completely impossible without getting very lucky. You will be resetting a lot if you are trying for all gold, by no fault of your own. That is horrible.