The first Bejeweled was an amazing time waster. Add several years worth of development experience and some really amazing ideas and it turns it from something to waste an entire day of work to something that should come with a warning written by the surgeon general. What makes this so wonderfully different from the version that can be played for free on Facebook is the addition of several goal orientated modes that find ways to make this old gem feel new.

Although the first thing that most people are going to notice is that all of the gems look great. The graphics have always taken a back seat to the addicting gameplay, and while the 3D rendered gems look great in Bejeweled 3, the graphics seem just slightly dated.

The biggest change from the original is the different game types. Most of them are played through the standard match-three format, but with objectives. The overall best one was probably the treasure hunt game where the player has to match gems over dirt to dig and find more and more treasure in an allotted time. Most of the types seem to have the core theme of trying to have the player think more about their moves as opposed to simply making them randomly and quickly.

The problem with all of this is that it almost feels like there is a certain point that the progression is simply hampered by the game. Several dozen times I would have a row of gems set up to break and the game would continually refuse to give me anything, in any one area of the grid that would help me progress that one mode any further. That said, it never really stopped me from going back for another round, again and again, for the better part of a night.

One of the wiser things that Popcap managed to do with this game was include a Quest Mode that mainly served as a kind of tutorial and sampling of the main game. The player has to complete so many puzzle rooms before they can progress onto the next, harder set of levels. This works as many of the choices that the player are given are the core game types for the rest of the game, and these serve to train the player on what to expect from those modes themselves.

Since it started, Popcap Games has been pumping out quality titles, and Bejeweled 3 is no exception. The real power for this go ’round is that it managed to take someone, me, who had no interest in almost anything Bejeweled and get them truly addicted. For anyone else who has had a passing interest in these games before, you have been fairly warned, this may destroy your life.

Not As Good As: Plants vs. Zombies
Also Try: Bejeweled on Facebook
Wait For It: Popcap to start injecting gaming directly into the blood stream
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