As the levels progress, more elements are added to the Magic Realm screen, and the storyline in Arcadia begins to improve, beginning at "Hey, what just happened? Please fix this" to "That Voice is really getting annoying! You must do something, Wizard!" As befits the new danger, the puzzles get harder to complete.

For one thing, the hourglass found all the way to the right of the screen begins to provide less time in which you are able to complete the level. This lessened duration can be slightly ameliorated by the use of a special spell in later levels, but initially the sound of the "duration ending" drums will drive you insane and make your play that much more frantic.

Additionally, more symbols are added to the grid, making it more difficult to find those longer chains of matches that help to end a screen earlier. Speaking of adding symbols, the gridsquares themselves begin to acquire different overlaid items that make matches more challenging. For example, there are squares that look like crates that hide the symbols beneath them. These can only be removed by being in immediate proximity to a completed set. There are frozen squares whose symbols must be removed once to eliminate the ice, and again to remove the symbol from the grid.

On the positive side, there are also a number of beneficial effects to consider. For example, as mentioned before, the mana you collect goes into a pool, from which you can draw enough points to activate available spells, located on the taskbar at the bottom of the Magic Realm interface. The default spells enable you to switch two squares, while the other allows a complete reshuffling of all the squares on the grid. Using each of these spells comes with a mana cost, of course, and given that mana is only collectible once per square, use of spells must be judicious.

The other types of beneficial spells include spells that will thaw out frozen squares, making the symbols buried beneath them immediately available; one-use destructive spells that eliminate barriers, and the like.

It should also be noted that, like Bejeweled, it's possible to run out of matches. At this point, the game will remind you that you have a reshuffle spell, which usually fixes the problem.

Despite the twee nature of the game's Imps, Magic Match Adventures is an addictive game that will draw you in almost despite yourself. Pick up the Mac-only demo right here on Big Download!