Bejeweled 3

Developer: PopCap Games
Steam Release: Dec 2010
Hours Played: 4.9
Similar To: Fluttabyes / Jewel Venture / Ricky Raccoon / Treasures of Montezuma 3
Rating: 3/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
The principle is the same as many other tile match up games; you click and hold the left mouse button on a gem, switch it with an adjoining gem and then release the button in order to match up three or more of the same colour. So far, so standard. However, Bejeweled 3 has managed to incorporate eight different ways of playing in the form of eight modes to make the whole experience just a bit more varied and dynamic than the "cover all the spaces" routine. Classic and Zen mode are frankly lame but that still leave us with six interesting variations. All modes are played out on an 8X8 grid.




BALANCE & PACE
Lightning mode, which gives 5 and 10 second power-ups, challenges you to get the best score in one minute; Poker mode has you using the five gems you match up as "cards" and then using these as "hands"; Butterflies has a spider at the top waiting to munch on the ascending butterfly; Diamond Mine has you breaking through the ground as you match up, and Ice-Storm has the grid filling up with water and then turning to ice if you take too long with your match ups. Quest mode, however, is the pinnacle where you work your way through 40 levels of really well-designed challenges, many of which could have been great modes in their own right.
 


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
With its pink and purple colour scheme, you might think that having the voice of Megatron from Transformers bellowing in the background would be a little out of place but there it is. Still, although you do have to unlock a few while playing, Bejewled 3 sets out its stall by presenting us with eight different play modes and these are displayed as huge sparkling crystals sitting atop of branches in a twisting tree to form a symmetrical pattern. With this being located in the clouds it gives the game a heavenly, angelic feel. Two of these (Classic and Zen) are stress-free endless modes that don't really offer a challenge. All the while you get a very grand, twinkling soundtrack in the background as if you’re taking part in a tense quiz show for life-changing money!  


PROGRESS SYSTEM
Stats-wise, high-scores may be viewed from the Records pathway that you may access from the main start-screen. Here, apart from the Zen and Quest mode, you may view your best score for each of the six modes in the form of a Top 10 among a bunch of fictitious names. Although this is very neatly and methodically done, personally I would like this to have been a Top 10 exclusively of the player's best scores as it's always more meaningful to see your best scores ranked rather than to just see your one best score all the time that you can rarely beat. Additionally, in the Records menu and in the form of nicely presented badges you may also view your achievements as well as some pointless stats.

CONCLUSION
The purple and pink colour scheme in the main menu seems to indicate that PopCap are targeting a female fan base here and I can't say I am a big fan of this. However, with plenty of modes to sink your teeth into, well-produced punchy sound-effects to drive home the satisfaction, and a superbly done Quest mode, Bejeweled 3 deserves its reputation at the forefront of match 3 games. Additionally, menu screens are super-efficient and easy to navigate and in windowed mode (although you cannot adjust the resolution) you are able to hover your mouse over the bottom right corner and adjust the screen size to whatever you want by dragging the mouse – another plus that very other few games bother to implement. All in all, it’s a thumbs up for this one.