A unique match-3 puzzle game, Space Ape’s Chrome Valley Customs combines the familiar tile-matching approach with automotive repair and car modifications. The game is quite fun and laid back, letting you refurbish customers’ old or broken cars by transforming them into timeless masterpieces.
The game’s overall gameplay loop is straightforward; customers share their faulty cars with you, and you repair/ improve them, earning the funds needed for each part to be replaced by solving match-3 puzzles in-between processes.
Photo: Space Ape
Chrome Valley Customs is an enjoyable mobile game to play on the side, especially for car mod enthusiasts. If you need help understanding certain aspects of the game, then this guide is here for you.
Car Repair Shop
Photo: Space Ape
The owner of Chrome Valley Customs, Uncle Hank, is close to retiring but discovers that a former employee had run off with all the auto shop’s cash (denoted by Repair Coins in-game). You’re brought in as the next manager, helping the entire team pick up the pieces.
It’s all business as usual for everyone; Big Rig the mechanic, Donna the engine specialist, Angelo the paint expert, and others. However, repair works are harder to complete now because of the garage’s non-existent fund reserves this time around.
Photo: Space Ape
To solve this, you’ll need to beat match-3 puzzles that gradually become difficult as you progress, rewarding you with the necessary Coins needed to complete customers’ orders. Once you do, though, the satisfaction of restoring broken-down cars to their former states – modifying them to become something more, if you want – is worth it.
As you lead the whole group towards success again, more crucial information regarding the former employee’s practices begins to unravel, essentially carrying the whole plot of Chrome Valley Customs’ storyline. That being said, it doesn’t distract you from the game’s true appeal; customizing cars to your heart’s content!
Photo: Space Ape
You’ll have tons of cars to modify and experiment with, each coming in per story episode. At the moment, there are eleven total episodes for you to complete (eleven total cars), with more coming soon.
Match-3 Puzzles
Photo: Space Ape
Chrome Valley Customs’ match-3 puzzles are your primary ‘enemies’ in the game, as they are the real obstacles keeping you away from the Coins required to finish the workshop’s car repairs. The puzzles themselves are relatively easy, especially in the beginning.
Above Level 10, though, the puzzles become more creative and challenging albeit still kid-friendly for younger players to play. As a match-3 game, here’s how you beat each puzzle:
- Match three items together, destroying them
- Match more than three items together to create one special piece of equipment (bomb, rocket, etc.)
- Destroy a specific number of items under a limited number of turns
Photo: Space Ape
It’s that simple! Later on, different puzzle variations will appear, forcing you to be more methodical with your decisions. Still, if you manage to complete each of them under the specified number of turns, you’ll be rewarded with three hundred Coins sought for the car repairs, plus additional premium currency, Gems, too.
In Chrome Valley Customs, Gems are used to extend your turns if you fail to complete a puzzle under the maximum turns limit. An additional five turns will cost nine hundred Gems, which is quite hefty considering you only average between thirty to fifty Gems per puzzle completed.
Photo: Space Ape
This is where the in-game shop comes into play if you’re stuck on a specific level for too long. You can also buy them to support the developers for their part in the game’s creation, which is even more awesome!
Power-Ups & Utilities
Photo: Space Ape
On higher levels, you’ll need to use a couple of different ‘boosters’ to solve more complex puzzles. Each has its specific uses, helping you destroy the necessary items under the maximum turns limit.
Among the basic pieces of equipment (boosters) that you can use in Chrome Valley Customs are:
- Bomb
- Explodes, destroying all nearby items
- Spinner
- Destroys items on all of its sides (up, down, left, right)
- Rocket
- Blasts off, destroying all items caught in its trajectory
- Turbo
- Destroys all items that you apply the turbo on
- Etc.
Each of these boosters can then be combined too, creating a more destructive effect that helps clear tiles more effectively. For instance:
- Bomb + Spinner
- Both items fly towards a random blocked tile on the map, destroying multiple nearby obstacles that decrease your puzzle’s overall area.
Photo: Space Ape
Apart from that, you have four special power tools at your disposal as well, each located on the right side of the screen during puzzle-solving. These are:
- Hammer
- Clears a single tile of any item
- Mechanical saw
- Clears a single row of all items
- Mechanical jack
- Clears a single column of all items
- Dice
- Shuffles all item locations on the board
These tools have a limited number of uses, so it’s recommended that you save them for harder levels much later on. On the other hand, the boosters earlier are free and come from actual tile-matching gameplay, so feel free to use them according to your in-game circumstance.
Repairing Process
Photo: Space Ape
Apart from the match-3 gameplay, Chrome Valley Customs also revolves around repairing cars. Based on the current episode that you’re playing, handling the respective customer’s demand requires the team to work on multiple different processes and part replacements.
Each stage consumes a variable number of Coins, and you’ll eventually run out of them, forcing you to gain more by playing the puzzles, and continuing the cycle. Still, for car lovers, changing the cars’ parts to better, meaner versions is what makes the game truly shine.
Photo: Space Ape
Depending on the customer’s car condition, your team will be doing everything from changing the front hood to installing new driver panels. If permitted, you’ll be allowed to attach custom mods like underglows or nitro boosts too, reliving the Need for Speed vibes!
As you unlock more episodes, though, the incoming cars’ conditions will become increasingly worse, testing your team’s capabilities to their limits. This means even more match-3 puzzles to solve later.
Photo: Space Ape
Regardless, as with any work done, the overall journey of repairing the cars is what matters most, and you’ll feel extremely satisfied once you get to see the repaired/ modified cars in action after being in such terrible states before.
Tips & Tricks
Although the game can be somewhat easy to play at first glance, there are a few things that you might benefit from knowing, especially during the latter stages of Chrome Valley Customs. Here are some tips and tricks for you to consider:
Take your time completing puzzles
In Chrome Valley Customs, there is no timer to complete levels. Because of this, you can take as much time as you want to observe the best tiles to be destroyed, maximizing the turns required to beat the current puzzle.
Sometimes, disregarding boosters on the map is more beneficial because they can occasionally spawn in bad spots, wasting your turns instead.
Go wild with your car mods
Chrome Valley Customs is all about having fun, and you’re supposed to be enjoying your time playing the game. So, use the available car modification options to create crazy enhancements to your customers’ vehicles (they won’t mind)!
Photo: Space Ape
Rotate the in-game camera for better screenshots
If you treasure a specific car that you’ve restored to its former glory, you’re more than welcome to take screenshots of it. If you didn’t know yet, you can rotate the in-game camera from the main screen by putting one finger on the screen and then using it to pan the camera across different angles.
Retouch/ edit previously-completed cars
At certain points in time, you might want to revisit a customer’s car to change its appearance to a new, updated one. After all, there might be certain things that you didn’t know you could do when you were still new to the game.
At any time, you can view your completed cars by visiting the episodes list, and then clicking on ‘View’ when you’re on the specific customer’s episode. You’ll be brought back to the respective car, and you can now freely change its appearance anyhow you like.
Photo: Space Ape
Save those Gems
Gems are extremely hard to accumulate in large bundles (except through real-world purchases). During the early game, try your best to save as much of them as you can, opting to retry puzzles from scratch instead of using a bunch of them for a few extra turns only.
Chrome Valley Customs’ latter stages can be a bit complex, so you’ll appreciate all those Gems that you saved up on at the beginning of your playthrough.
Conclusion
Photo: Space Ape
Chrome Valley Customs is an unconventional spin relevant to the match-3 game genre, but it does so pleasantly and convincingly. It’s not ground-breaking by any means, but the game does warrant itself being downloaded if you’re looking for something to spend your free time on with your mobile.
If you have anything to add about Chrome Valley Customs too, feel free to share them in the comments section below!
