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Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: 1st Playable Productions / Infinite Interactive
No. of Players: 1 – 2 (Multi-player Wireless Connection)
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Release Date: March 16, 2007 (Europe), March 20, 2008 (U.S.)
Rating: E/+10

Story -

Some say that the universe moves in several cycles. A cycle of death, a cycle of war and and cycle of peace. If that is true, the Agarian Empire has known of the cycle of peace for too long. It is time for the next cycle to begin. You are the Empire’s only hope to see through the next cycles and bring peace once again. Begin your heroic journey as a druid, knight, warrior or wizard to battle monsters.

Presentation – 8/10

For a game that is commonly known as Bejeweled, the Japanese have really outdone themselves by stirring in of a bit of RPG.
The dialogue was much like that of ‘ye olde’ times. You have optional choices on how you will finish some of your quests, much like that of an multi-linear RPG. Side quests and the story line could leave you playing for hours if it weren’t for the fact that this is Bejeweled in disguise. Depending on your difficulty setting, you spend 95% of the time matching and combining gems. With most role playing games I like to play, I prefer having a little more story than that.

Sound – 7/10

Epic on many scales but the DS speakers, like always, let you down. It’s like listening to your favourite band
(to be cool I should say Iron Maiden but my first cassette was Spice World) on your very first cassette player while you’re out on a jog. You come back home and then pop the same album in cd form into your component system and realize that ‘oomph’ you were missing. The sound of this game is exactly like that. Still good on the DS but even better if you were to play it on a different console that requires a television.

Control – 9/10

Unless you have steady and thin fingers, this game functions best and mainly operates with the stylus. It became frustrating at times when pinpoint precision was key to jewel swapping. It could be seen as either good or bad thing that the screen is more sensitive than normal to your stylus’ touch. At times, it was a bad thing when you would make an illegal move – where your combination of jewels or skulls in a pair of three to five was off – that you didn’t mean to make at all. That being said and for future reference do not drink any caffeine or be half asleep while playing. Other than that irritation, a nine out of ten score seemed reasonable.

Gameplay – 9/10

When I first played ‘Bejeweled’ on the computer it was love at first sight. Rather, once I learned how to play it, I grew a gradual appreciation for it. Combining a game I was very skilled at with my favourite genre (RPG) was a match made in heaven.
However that heaven didn’t last long as I sometimes battled the same monster for up to three hours. Fortunately for me, I found that you could easily switch from Normal to Easy any time you wanted. This could be seen as something done for the ‘dumbed down’ generation of gamers but say that to me after what I’ve been through.

Graphics – 9.5/10

For a two dimensional platform with the ever so popular anime stylized art, this nearly receives and A+ from me. I knocked it down a half point because in my own sick and twisted way, I would have liked to have seen more animation.