iPhone App: Bejeweled 2

May 10th, 2009

= 5 stars

Line up sparkly jewels in rows or columns of three or more to remove them from the board.

The Good

• Easy to learn, difficult to master, a good balance between skill and luck.
• Three different modes: classic, action, and endless. Classic involves creating matches until you run out of legit moves. Action adds a steadily decreasing timer where every match increases progress toward passing the level. Endless has no restrictions so you can play until your family jewels fall off.
• There’s something primal about sparkly objects, begging to be touched. The iPhone’s touch interface plus sound effects complete a strangely satisfying experience (there’s a satisfying “clack” each time jewels fall and bump against others).
• Good use of the iPhone’s touch interface: just “swipe” over a gem to move it in a certain direction. This saves a bit of time over repeated taps and achieves the holy grail of iPhone gaming — the ability to play with one hand.
• Great graphics with tiny, satisfying touches: sparkles indicate possible moves, gems spin when selected, and a black hole tunnel animation whenever a level is completed.

The Bad

• Absolute certainty I will check out Bejeweled 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Conclusion

Bejeweled is a nearly perfect matching game, and is well-suited for the iPhone. Highly recommended.

iTunes App Store Link: