Bejeweled Live+ Review: The puzzle king returns to Windows Phone

Yous might not know this, but Microsoft and Bejeweled become way back. PopCap created the very first version in Flash in 2001, originally calling it Diamond Mine. When Microsoft hosted the game at its MSN gaming site, the two parties agreed to modify the title to Bejeweled, a proper noun that has at present go synonymous with the match-3 puzzle genre.

Windows Telephone 7 launched with Bejeweled Alive, a decent but overpriced ($5!) port of the game with only three game modes. Because that Bejeweled on iPhone and iPad each include 5 modes for simply one dollar, the original Bejeweled Live has always represented a poor value proposition.

Thankfully, PopCap has finally made good with Bejeweled Live+, essentially a port of the iOS version. A timed Nokia exclusive, it has a 2 dollar markup on Windows Telephone vii and 8. Just three dollars doesn't sting too badly when we're talking about the finest pure puzzle game on the platform.

Again into the mines

By now, just about every gamer should sympathise Bejeweled'due south core gameplay. Match three or more gems of the same color past sliding a unmarried precious stone horizontally or vertically. More gems so autumn into the field, and the procedure repeats until the game ends. Information technology'southward simple and addictive, more so thanks to PopCap'due south typically great sound furnishings.

Matching gems in a adept fashion (or by happy accident) can produce some helpful special gems. Iv in a row make a Flame Gem that destroys all gems within a minor radius when matched. Make a T, Fifty, or Plus to create a Star Gem that clears an unabridged column or row when matched. Matches of v gems in a row make the all-powerful Hypercube. Swapping the 'cube with another gem will destroy all gems of that color. Finally, the very rare six gem matches make a Supernova precious stone that clears a big portion of the screen.

V ways to play

Bejeweled Live+ includes several modes, some of which originated in Bejeweled 3 for XBLA and PC. That game'south Quest, Ice Storm, and Poker are not found here, nor is Bejeweled Blitz, which sells as a separate game on iOS. Scores achieved in any manner contribute to an overall thespian level, but that level doesn't unlock annihilation (not even an Achievement), making it kind of a worthless feature.

Archetype

The original, un-timed game mode (pictured above) in which matches make full up a meter at the lesser of the screen. One time the meter fills, yous motility on to a new level with a fresh set of gems. The game ends when you tin't make any more matches.

Lightning

A timed mode highly reminiscent of Bejeweled Blitz. You start with 60 seconds to make equally many matches equally possible, always in pursuit of a higher score. Matching special Time Gems adds more time, so don't miss them! Eventually time runs out and the game ends.

Diamond Mine

Another timed fashion that I detect the about addictive overall. The goal is to dig deep below the ground and find diverse artifacts buried therein. Matching gems adjacent to the dirt will eliminate that clay, though some tough spots have two matches to clear.

You start with precious little time, just clearing all of the clay beneath a certain line gets yous 25 more than seconds. On the rare occasions when the entire field is articulate of dirt, the game awards a big time bonus. I love Diamond Mine fashion, but I wish time wasn't e'er then short. Despite the high difficulty, I do find myself coming dorsum over again and again…

Zen

The Countless mode of Bejeweled Alive becomes Zen mode in Alive+. It plays just like Classic, simply the in that location'due south ever at least one possible match and then the game never ends.

Zen offers some interesting options to heighten the tranquility of the feel. You tin can change the groundwork music to various nature sounds, select textual mantras to pop upwardly during gameplay, or enable a breathing modulation brandish. This causes a line to raise and lower on-screen in social club to help you regulate your animate. Y'all do Non want to get so into your Bejeweling that you forgot to breathe and drop dead, afterwards all!

Butterflies

Want some claiming without a fourth dimension limit? In this unique mode, colored butterflies spawn at the bottom of the screen. Each match you make causes the butterflies to become up one space. Matching a butterfly eliminates it, merely another one will soon spawn. If any butterflies make it to the top of the screen, they get eaten by a spider and the game ends. The game counts how many collywobbles you match, only the real goal is only to score every bit high as possible.

Bejeweled Trance

We can always count on 2 things from PopCap: their games will look pretty and sound even better. Bejeweled Alive+ gets high marks on both fronts, only the audio impresses me nigh of all. The great sound effects are bolstered by the ethereal voice of Zachary Throne. His commentary could sound goofy on its ain, and nonetheless works perfectly in this game's setting.

Improve than all that: the music from composers Peter Hajba and Alexander Brandon. It has this haunting, electronic sound completely unlike whatever game music I've heard. Alive+'southward tunes come from the longer Bejeweled three soundtrack, which you can buy at Bandcamp.

Clunkiness

Alive+ is a great port, just the actual menus somehow got worse on the way to Windows Phone. On iPhone or iPad you'd find all of the game modes on the main carte du jour, nice and like shooting fish in a barrel to option. But here, only here modes are on the principal menu, with Zen and Butterflies tucked abroad nether Bonus Games – a needless separation.

The Options menu isn't constitute under the chief carte du jour'southward Help & About, either. Instead, you lot have to press the upward arrow at the bottom of the screen to view your profile. From there, you'll notice Stats and Options. The contour screen refers to the player as "Player" and shows a non-changeable Yellow jewel as an avatar. It really should display the player'southward Gamertag and Gamerpic or Xbox Alive avatar.

Achievements

PopCap always gives the Bejeweled serial brutal, hardcore Achievements that are odds with the games' casual nature. The outset Bejeweled Alive for instance had an Accomplishment for matching one million gems, a feat that took an insane 150-200 hours of grinding.

Alive+ fares slightly better, as its only grinding Achievements are for destroying a far more reasonable 400 Star Gems and 400 Hypercubes. Y'all tin can easily knock these out in Diamond Mine mode where they occur more often, though it volition yet take a few hours.

That said, this i nonetheless has several Achievements tied to unreasonably high scores and challenges. Y'all'll have to do insanely well in Lightning and Diamond Mine modes. Butterfly manner has a couple of tough ones too, but they're more accessible by comparison. A huge part of doing well in these modes comes from luck, so you could spend countless hours in ane and play your all-time simply come away with no Achievements for your trouble.

All told, but 20 people have completed Live+'s Achievements.

Overall Impression

Bejeweled Live+ puts the first Bejeweled Live to shame. Information technology has way more content and all the same costs two dollars less, and then I wouldn't be surprised if the original game gets de-listed whenever Live+ becomes available to non-Nokia users. Heck, Live+ even trumps the recently released Bejeweled Live for Windows 8 likewise since that one lacks Lightning and Zen modes.

Amid the Xbox Windows Phone lineup, the just puzzle game that can possibly match Live+ is Puzzle Quest 2. Namco Bandai's offering takes the same cadre gameplay and adds a story and RPG elements. On the other hand, it's much longer than it needs to be and doesn't fifty-fifty support Fast App Switching. If I could cull just one conundrum for mobile play, information technology would be Bejeweled Live+.

Bejeweled Live+ - Windows Phone 7 or 8 - $2.99 – 53 MB – Store Link (Nokia exclusive)

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/bejeweled-liveplus-review

Posted by: messerguill1987.blogspot.com

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