Reviews

Bejeweled 2

January 3, 2005

You may be thinking that there isn’t much that they can do to improve Bejeweled, since it’s one of the most addicting Palm OS games ever released, but you’d be wrong. Let’s start at the beginning and take a look at all of the changes. When you first start the application, you’re prompted to enter your name so that statistics can be more easily tracked. After that you’ll be taken to the main screen, which offers four gameplay modes and two other options. You can play in Classic, Action, Puzzle, or Endless mode, or you can tap on one of the buttons at the bottom of the screen to access the game options (where you can control the sound volume, toggle clock and battery level display, etc.) or see the high score list.

Classic mode is fairly self-explanatory. If you’ve played Bejeweled before, then you already know how to play. Swap adjacent gems to make sets of three or more, which then disappear from the board so that new gems can fall down from the top. But there are two new gem types in Bejeweled 2, as well as greatly enhanced graphics and sound effects. If you’re able to create a line of four gems, you’ll create a power gem of the same color; use that power gem to create a group of three or more gems and that power gem will explode, clearing a portion of the game board. If you manage to create a line of five gems, you’ll create a hyper cube; swap it with an adjacent gem to remove all gems of that same color from the game board at once. Both of these new gems add a significant extra kick to the gameplay and make the game even more addictive than before.

The changes don’t stop there though; as there are three more gameplay modes to talk about. Adventure mode is very similar to the standard timed mode in the original Bejeweled, with a few extra touches. There’s a timer bar at the bottom of the screen that fills as you swap gems and complete groups of three or more. Fill it up and the level is complete; you’re then whisked away to a new planet for the next level. You get a good glimpse of the new planet just before the level starts; after that it serves as a background for the level. The subtle differences in color are quite stunning, and my favorite is the ice planet because the background makes the play board even sharper and clearer.

Puzzle mode is a completely new addition, and a devilish one. Instead of fast thinking, you need strategic thinking, because the object here is to completely clear the board, with no leftover gems. It starts out rather easy, but the difficulty ramps up quickly and you must complete at least four out of five puzzles on each level to unlock the next planet on the galaxy map. Each new planet brings a new challenge, from learning how to use power gems and hyper cubes in puzzle mode to how to deal with pesky rocks that can only be cleared off of the game board by blowing them up with special jewels. And then there are the bombs with countdown timers that really shake things up! Fortunately there’s an extremely brief tutorial for each planet that helps you get oriented quickly so you can get back to solving puzzles.

If you get stuck on any one of the puzzles, you can choose another puzzle from the galaxy map; sometimes a change in pace can help you come up with a solution while working on a different puzzle. If you’re one of those who simply can’t let a puzzle go until you figure it out, you’ll be glad to know that a single tap of the question mark bubble at the bottom left corner of the screen will take you back to the spot just before you made a wrong move, so that you can quickly get back on track to the best puzzle solution. If you’ve made a complete mess of it, that will be the beginning of that particular puzzle; if you’ve only made one wrong move after several right moves, you’ll only go back one step.

Endless mode is quite similar to the original untimed mode, which is great when you’re looking for a random timewaster instad of an arcade challege in Adventure mode or a brainteaser in Puzzle mode. And when they say endless they really mean it— you can literally play forever. I actually got up to ten million points over the course of about three weeks, and there was no end in sight. You “progress” through each level and are awarded gems of varying colors at the end of each one; fill up a circle of gems and you are taken to the next planet for a change of scenic background. But there are no time limits to get in the way of pure Bejeweled enjoyment.

Some of the other changes are also quite welcome. I’ve already mentioned the greatly enhanced graphics and the cool new background music, but there’s more to Bejeweled 2 than that. It’s obvious that the developers worked hard to make small enhancement throughout the game. One prime example is the new pause menu; one tap on the pause symbol at the left side of the screen automatically pauses the game and allows you to choose between viewing the help information, changing game options, and toggling the sound on or off.

Bejeweled has long been one of my favorite games, but Bejeweled 2 completely blows it away with all new graphics, new gameplay modes, and a level of polish that makes every detail truly enjoyable. The game requires 2.3MB on a Palm OS handheld, and there are also Pocket PC and Windows versions available. Bejeweled 2 is $19.95 but be careful— once you buy it you might not be able to stop. Be sure you have your to do list cleared off first! You can get a free trial copy or a full license at the Astraware web site.

PocketGoddess Rating for Bejeweled 2:

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