Big Kahuna Reef

[Janyce Brits]

BigKahuna Reef is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed by Reflexive Entertainment. Released in 2004, it was the first in a series of Big Kahuna titles. The look of the game is that of ocean scenes, exotic fish and tiki heads.

Big Kahuna Reef is set in an underwater reef with a board that is shaped like a grid, covered by various things that have to be matched up in vertical or horizontal lines of three or more. To pass the level and progress, a player must break all of them by making chains of objects (such as starfish or shells), before the time runs out.[4] Between levels, points are earned that unlock new fish and other undersea creatures.[5] During the interludes between levels, one can create and observe their personal reef and its creatures in the Fish Screen mode.[6]

A Relaxed Play feature allows the choice of any level, without any time limit. The game also includes an editor, giving the players an opportunity to make their own boards, making up to thousands of additional free user-created levels by people from around the world.[7]

Big Kahuna Reef takes the fun of Jewel Quest to a new level with a great Hawaiian reef theme! Match 3 or more of the same underwater shapes to fill in the spaces they occupy. Fill in all the spaces, and you have passed the level.

After each puzzle level you solve, you earn points toward adding a new fish to your reef. View your reef between levels and enjoy the fish you add to it. Each fish comes with a snippet of information to help you learn more about it.

New to Big Kahuna Reef are locked spaces on the board. You must match these up with two other shapes before the space can be unlocked. Often the locked spaces block more of the board that must be eventually filled in.

Other additions to the game include varying board shapes to give the levels variety, the ability to take away shapes that are hard to match, and the necessity on some levels to fill in spaces more than once.

Big Kahuna Reef is a puzzle game that was created by Reflexive Entertainment. Released in 2004 on the PC, it became the first of a series of Big Kahuna titles. The look of the game is that of ocean scenes, exotic fish and tiki heads. It is a match-making casual game that involves breaking boxes in order to progress past each level. To beat a level a player must break all the boxes by making chains of objects (such as starfish or shells). Between levels, points are earned that unlock new fish and other undersea creatures. During the interludes between levels, one can create and observe their personal reef and its creatures. Reflexive also created a sequel called Big Kahuna Reef 2 in addition to a title called Big Kahuna Words in which the game play mechanic is similar to the other two titles, but instead of busting boxes with chains of similar objects, one must make words (akin to the game Boggle).

One unique thing about the Big Kahuna Reef series is that there are thousands of additional free user-made levels created by people from around the world (similar to the Ricochet Infinity series).[1]

Around the 7th of December 2017, the official website that hosted all user-made levels and the forums for both the Ricochet (Ricochet Infinity, Ricochet Lost Worlds and Ricochet Lost Worlds: Recharged) and the Big Kahuna series were permanently shut down because they were no longer sustainable to run.[1]

A level consists of a geometric figure, divided into squares, filled with different aquatic items (pearls, mussels, starfishes, etc.). Now you have to swap two adjacent items so that this will create a chain of at least three items of the same type. Once this happens, the items vanish and new items dropping down from above.

After completing a certain amount of levels, you will unlock different fishes for your personal reef, totaling in 22 different species. In the My Fish Screen, you can set up a new reef, releasing fishes or group of fishes into your own reef and you can even watch your own "aquarium" as long as you want. When you continue your game, this particularly reef will be used as the background, and all the fishes will eventually swim through the game.

The game offers two different game modes, whereby the only difference is that the one is time based (playing against the clock), while the other is without any time limits, where you can play a level as long as you want.

Perhaps. It's not going to make a huge splash, but the swelling ocean of the mobile games audience is vast enough for Big Kahuna Reef to become part of the eco-system and quietly make a ripple or two.

A direct conversion of web-based game Hawaii Quest, Big Kahuna Reef takes place in the form of an underwater reef that is made up into a grid. Covering the squares of the grid (which gets larger the more you advance in the game) are various aquatic objects that have to be matched up in vertical or horizontal lines of three or more. In doing this, you destroy any crates that are lurking underneath these objects. Destroy all the crates before the time runs down and you move onto the next level.

The one-thumb control system is simple enough, and enables you to scroll around the menus and playing area using the pad trouble free. Graphically, Big Kahuna Reef has large visuals with a decent level of detail for this type of game and some intriguing backgrounds behind the main playing area.

As developers are very much aware, there's not much you can do with a puzzle-based title on a mobile, especially a tile-swapper. Yet the standard is progressing all the time, and Big Kahuna Reef stands up very well to this ever-rising benchmark.

It's also good to see the advancing sonic capabilities of phones enabling programmers to come up with better musical compositions, and Big Kahuna Reef certainly boasts a well put together (if rather repetitive) theme tune.

A record of these sea-based creatures is stored in a separate part of the game. Later, you can select the fish you've unlocked and have it swim around your phone's screen. You can select as many of each fish as you want, so that you could end up with shoals of the little fellas swimming around. It even gives you a bit of a natural history lesson on each of the species' individual characteristics.

To sum up, Big Kahuna Reef is a fairly challenging puzzle game that raises the water level just over the 'above average mark' but it's missing that something special. There's definitely better out there, but if you're one of the many fans of the web-based original then you may well love this more than the rest.

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