Once upon a time in a small village, there lived a young girl named Dora. Dora had magical hair that had the ability to change color with her emotions. Every day, her hair could be seen in various shades, reflecting her mood and feelings. Dora's magical hair made her the talk of the town. People would gather around her just to witness the enchanting transformations of her hair. Some mornings, it would shimmer in a vibrant shade of blue when she was happy.
Expect to be asking friends for help regularly. Photograph: PR
Weeks and months of grinding through difficult levels, being prodded to buy gold bars, and badgering friends and being badgered in return by them for lives. Sometimes this will make the wait time for new lives obscenely long, but even with combining these Bubble Witch 2 Saga cheats it normally resets to the regular time overnight.
Some mornings, it would shimmer in a vibrant shade of blue when she was happy. Other times, it might turn fiery red when she was angry or upset. Everyone was fascinated by Dora's magical hair and would eagerly wait to see what color it would be each day.
Will Candy Crush fans find a new fix with Bubble Witch Saga 2?
Tens of millions of people are still swapping sweets in the Candy Crush Saga game on smartphones, tablets and Facebook. Now its publisher, King, has released a new puzzle game: Bubble Witch Saga 2.
It's available today for Android and Apple devices, as well as on Facebook. As with previous Saga games, if you log in using your Facebook profile, your progress will be saved across all of these if you choose to play across several.
As you'll likely have guessed from the name, this is a sequel: the original Bubble Witch Saga was actually King's first mobile game back in July 2012, although the company has since admitted that it wasn't as fun as it could be on smartphones in particular.
"It plays great on iPads with larger screens, but you kinda had to squint on smartphones," King's games boss Tommy Palm told the Guardian last year. Bubble Witch Saga 2 is the company's attempt to remedy those faults, slapping several layers of polish on to the core gameplay.
And that gameplay is… popping bubbles. Specifically, firing coloured bubbles from the bottom of the screen at other coloured bubbles higher up to make matches of three or more, which then disappear. You have a set number of bubbles to fire on each level.
As with King's other games, this isn't a new form of gameplay in itself.
Just as Candy Crush Saga took its cues from a game called Bejeweled and Papa Pear Saga was heavily based on a game called Peggle, both Bubble Witch Saga games have their roots in a series of games called Puzzle Bobble and Bust-a-Move – the names varied depending on where in the world and on what device you played them.
Around that, King has wrapped a structure that is now familiar from its other Saga games: you play through levels earning one, two or three stars for your scores, with different challenges to vary the core matching gameplay, and power-ups used to get you out of tricky spots.
Bubble Witch Saga 2's Free the Ghost levels. Photograph: PR
Here, the power-ups include a rainbow bubble that will match with any colour, and a fire bubble that blazes a path through any bubbles in its way. Once unlocked, you get three of each for free, but if you want more, you'll have to spend gold bars.
Yes, virtual spending. As with the other Saga games, virtual items and in-app purchases figure prominently in Bubble Witch Saga 2 – it's one of the "freemium" games that have come to dominate the mobile games industry.
Gold bars are used to buy the booster bubbles, but also to get a few more bubbles if you hit your limit on a level, and to buy more lives – you lose a life every time you fail a level. An in-app store sells the gold bars starting at £0.69 for 10, and rising to £34.99 for 650.
Note, you can also choose to "ask friends" for more lives. Tapping this button brings up a list of Facebook friends playing the game, who you can then ask for help – another familiar feature from the other Saga games.
There are three types of levels at the moment in Bubble Witch Saga 2: Clear the Top, Save the Animals and Free the Ghost. The first tasks you with reaching the top of the level and freeing up six spaces on the uppermost row; the second involves clearing bubbles to rescue animals floating throughout the level; and the third involves freeing a spook trapped at the centre of a rotating cluster of bubbles.
So, is Bubble Witch Saga 2 any good? Needless to say, it won't appeal to the vocal brigade of Candy Crush haters who see King and its Saga games as the epitome of freemium awfulness. If this is you, Bubble Witch Saga 2 won't change your mind, but there are some excellent paid games out there as alternatives.
What if you're a big Candy Crush Saga fan looking for a new fix? Bubble Witch Saga 2 is definitely worth a try, as its structure will be familiar, but the gameplay will be a fresh change from candy-swapping.
This kind of bubble-popping was brilliant fun in the Bust-a-Move and Puzzle Bobble games, and King has done a much better job second time round in translating it to modern touchscreens. No squinting required.
Expect to be asking friends for help regularly. Photograph: PR
I do wonder if there's a risk of Saga overload, though. There was a moment around level 20-something where I got stuck, lost all my lives – they replenish naturally if you don't pay, but only at the rate of one every 30 minutes – and I had a sudden, wearying vision of the future.
Weeks and months of grinding through difficult levels, being prodded to buy gold bars, and badgering friends (and being badgered in return by them) for lives. How many people who went hundreds of levels down the Candy Crush Saga rabbit hole will relish the prospect of doing it all over again in a new game?
That said, at 9.30am this morning, this point was going to be the main thrust of the review, once I stopped playing. The next time I looked up, it was 10.30am, I'd reached level 40 (without paying) and completely forgotten the theory that this was supposed to be a grind.
Incidentally, level 40 is the first roadblock in Bubble Witch Saga 2: you're asked to either wait five days to unlock the next set of levels, spend nine gold bars, or ask friends for help. Judging by the in-game map, this happens again after level 55.
At launch, Bubble Witch Saga 2 has 70 levels, but King says it'll be adding new ones every fortnight, following the same pattern as Candy Crush Saga.
So, in answer to the question in the headline of this review: if you love Candy Crush Saga, will you love Bubble Witch Saga 2 as well? The chances are good. And even if you're starting to wonder when the wheels of the Saga bandwagon will start to wobble, there's plenty of fun to be had.
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This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set. More information.
Aside from her magical hair, Dora was a kind-hearted and curious girl. She loved exploring the forest near her village and would spend hours discovering new creatures and plants. One day, while wandering deep into the forest, Dora stumbled upon a hidden clearing with a magical spring. As she bent down to touch the sparkling water, an unexpected thing happened. The water from the magical spring soaked her hair, and instantly it turned into a shimmering golden color. Dora was amazed and became even more excited about her magical hair. She realized that her hair not only changed color with her emotions but could also be influenced by external factors. As word spread about the golden-haired girl with magical hair, people from neighboring villages started visiting Dora to witness her enchanting hair themselves. They would bring her gifts and ask her for advice on various matters, believing that her hair had a magical power to predict the future. Dora, being humble and kind, would always help everyone who came to her. She would listen to their problems, offer them guidance, and sometimes even do small acts of magic using her hair. Everyone in the village admired her for her kind heart and the amazing gift she possessed. As the years went by, Dora's reputation grew far and wide. She became known as the "Magic Hair Fairytale Dora." People from all over the kingdom would travel to her village to seek her help. With her magical hair and kind spirit, Dora brought joy and hope to those in need. She became a symbol of love, compassion, and the power of believing in magic. And so, the story of Magic Hair Fairytale Dora continued to be told for generations to come, inspiring people to embrace their uniqueness and to always spread love and kindness wherever they go..
Reviews for "Dora's Hair Fairytale: Where Dreams Come True"
1. Emily - 1 out of 5 stars: I was extremely disappointed with "Magic Hair Fairytale Dora". I thought it would be a fun and educational game for my daughter, but it ended up being repetitive and lacked any real substance. The graphics were outdated and the gameplay felt monotonous. My daughter quickly lost interest and moved on to other games. I would not recommend this game to anyone looking for an engaging and entertaining experience.
2. Michael - 2 out of 5 stars: I found "Magic Hair Fairytale Dora" to be quite underwhelming. The concept seemed interesting, but the execution was lacking. The controls were clunky and the hair styling options were limited. The game also froze a few times, which was frustrating. Overall, I was left feeling unsatisfied with this game and would not consider playing it again.
3. Sarah - 2 out of 5 stars: As a parent, I was hoping "Magic Hair Fairytale Dora" would be entertaining for my daughter, but unfortunately, it fell short. The gameplay felt repetitive and the graphics were lackluster. Additionally, the in-app purchases were excessive and made the game feel like a cash grab. I would recommend exploring other options before settling for this game.