Gameplay Sound    Graphics Value Genre: Puzzle & Trivia Min OS X: 10.5.8

Bejeweled 3 April 22, 2011 | Ted Bade

Pages: 1 2 3 Gallery

Click to enlarge Power Gems

The basis of the Bejeweled game is very simple. There is a board with jewels of various colors randomly placed. Match three or more jewels of the same color and you get some points, then the jewels disappear and jewels above drop down to fill the gap. The elegance of this game is in the strategy of choosing to make certain combinations that manipulate the board so that special jewels are created or a series of jewel combinations occur on their own after you make the starting combination. But to enjoy playing Bejeweled, you don’t need to do any more then make three jewel combinations one after another until there are no possible combinations left. It’s a great way to kill all your free time! While this might sound very basic on the surface, I find it totally addicting. There is an excitement of having a classic game go on for days, reaching new heights in score or the satisfaction of acquiring a game award (badge) for doing something special. The timed games try to force you to think fast, while the non-timed games lets you vedge out! There is something in this game for everyone.

Bejeweled version 3 has four variants of play, along with one hidden subset for each variant. They are Classic, Zen, Lightning, and Quest. I won’t talk about the hidden games other then to mention that they are related to their main game type, (you need to complete a goal in the main game type to unlock the hidden one associated with it).

Classic is the classic version of Bejeweled you might be familiar with. Starting with a random board, you make matches until there are no more possible options. This game can go one for quite a while if you play your matches intelligently, although luck is a factor as well. Tiles that fall to fill in gaps at the top are random and nothing you do can affect what falls. However, special jewels can be used to clear out areas of the board that are stagnant and have no matches.

Lightning is a timed game set. You must make as many matches as you can in the time allowed. As you play, special jewels with time values fall, if matched or destroyed their time values add to your time to play. You play until the timer runs out. This is a more challenging version of the game.

Zen is one of the more unusual aspects of Bejeweled 3. This an “unlimited no rush, no stress game", which could essentially go on forever. The randomness of the jewels falling is a bit more controlled in your favor so there are more possibilities for matches. In fact, this game does go on a lot longer then the general game. Coupled with this are some ambient audio effects you can choose to turn on. Breath modulation uses graphic and audio signals to slow and modulate your breathing. Turning on Mantras plays relaxing mantra sounds in the background. Binaural sounds attempt to balance your brain. You can choose a variety of relaxing ambient background sounds (ocean, birds, running water, etc.) to accompany your game play. It is interesting, but the relaxed ambient effect is a bit lost when you match one or more of the rather EXPLOSIVE jewels. ☺

The Quest variant is a set of different goal based game types all rolled into one. The quest is to acquire special gems to fill spots on an artifact. You acquire a gem by completing one of the various games. This version is a lot of fun, because there are so many different variations of Bejeweled to try out. I found a number of these variations to be challenging and fun. After finishing one artifact, you move to another and the difficulty of the games increase.

Pages:

1

2

3

Gallery