And the Bejeweled exodus continues...

Posted 1 year ago By - Aaron Jao

Almost every gamer in the world knows the name “PopCap Games”. For those of you (yeas, both of you) who are unfamiliar with the game developer, they are the makers of such obscure titles as Bejeweled, Zuma, Peggle, Bookworm and everybody’s favorite tower defense game, Plants Vs. Zombies. Which brings us to this review. Yes, they released another entry in the Bejeweled franchise. Released last year on PC, this follow-up to the massively successful Bejeweled 2 has now made its way to the most popular handheld, the Nintendo DS. I’m sure you’re asking yourself what the difference is between the two games. Well, read on...

Now, let me say this up front: I am not the biggest fan of the Bejeweled franchise. It certainly is a very addicting game, but its not my type cup of tea, so to speak. Bejeweled is for people who consider themselves as “Casual Gamers”, simply because there really isn’t that much gameplay involved. It’s simple, yet addictive, and PopCap wouldn’t dare change the basic mechanics, because it has been very successful for them over the last 12 years. The gameplay boils down to moving one gem, up, down, left, or right, and pair it with two similar gems (making 3 gems in a straight line). However, you can only move one gem at a time, which is where the strategy comes in to play. That’s all there is to it. I know, it sounds incredibly simple, yet PopCap has managed to maintain the addictive nature, keeping you coming back for more. By the 5 - 6 hour mark, you’ll hardly notice how simple it is.

This game, being a sequel, must offer different modes to keep people coming back. And yes, they do offer different game modes and some secret stuff as well. Standard modes include Classic, where you just keep moving gems to make a row or column of 3. The game ends if there are no more possible moves to make. Zen mode is like playing in a very relaxing environment and soothing music. It’s similar to the Endless mode in Bejeweled 2. Every gem is randomly generated so that there will always be a move to be made. Lightning mode gives you a time limit of 60 seconds, and players can extend the time by lining up special gems, or by lining up gems at a fast pace. The last standard mode is Quest mode, featuring 40 puzzles and 11 mini-games, such as butterfly, ice storm and diamond mine.

Final Focus

In my opinion if you haven’t yet tried out Bejeweled, buy Bejeweled 3. It’s fun, has more modes and is excellent at keeping you playing. I had fun with it. I’ve spent considerable amounts of time playing the game on my 3DS. While the graphics aren’t that improved, as it’s still not at a high enough resolution for my taste. Even with that said, I had fun and kept playing it. I would recommend this if you are looking for a casual game on your DS/3DS. I had no problem with the controls, just tap the screen with your stylus and it goes where you want it to go.