Title: Bejeweled
Developer: PopCap Games, Inc. and Astraware Ltd.
Publisher: PopCap Games, Inc.
Year: 2000
Platforms: Flash, Windows, Mac OS X, Palm OS, PocketPC, Smartphone, XBox, fifth generation iPod
Genre: Puzzle
Players: One player only
Bejeweled is a simple colour matching puzzle game in a similar vein
to Yoshi's Cookie, Columns and Puyo Puyo. A grid is filled with
colourful jewels, and the object of the game is to swap pairs of
them so that three jewels of matching colour line up in a row.
The classic mode of play has no time limit, which means that you can
keep playing until you run out of valid moves. Considering that the
colours of the jewels are randomised, there appears to be no correlation
between how skilled you are and how far in the game you can progress.
Oddly, this apparent pointlessness isn't necessarily a flaw: considering
that the game is available on handheld devices such as music players
and mobile phones, the classic mode is a fun way to waste a few
minutes. It's also a convenient way to learn the game. You can get
into the habit of scanning for "V," "i" and "L" patterns of nearby
jewels of the same colour without having to worry about losing the
game before you've even started playing it properly.
As enjoyable as it is, the classic mode will probably become dull
once you get the hang of it. This is where the action mode breathes
new life into the game. In both modes, a meter at the side of the
screen measures your progress towards the next level. In action
mode, it also trickles back down like an hourglass, ensuring that
you can only progress through the game if you can play it quickly
enough. While this isn't relaxing like the classic mode, it makes
Bejeweled feel more like a regular game that encourages you to develop
your skills the more you play it.
While Bejeweled isn't the best game ever made, it's a fun way to
entertain yourself for a few minutes. For this reason, it's perfectly
suited to the portable devices it's most frequently played on. The
iPod version in particular has the bonuses of letting you listen to
your favourite music while you play, and letting you save the game
to resume later on. I'd recommend it to anyone who commutes daily.