Bejeweled 2

PS3 review by Terence Gage, published on Tuesday 23rd June 2009

If you were to use one word to describe Bejeweled 2, ‘addictive’ would probably be the best possible fit. It’s such a simple concept, but executed with such panache, and wears the old adage of ‘just one more go’ on its sleeve, to better effect than just about any other game this century.

The concept is deceptively simple - you are given an eight-by-eight grid filled with coloured jewels, and you must switch tiles to make up lines of three or more of the same colour, vanquishing those jewels and scoring points, while more fall in to fill their place. Jewels can only be moved one tile horizontally or vertically, and there is a bar at the bottom of the grid which must be filled in order to progress to the next stage (except in the Endless mode, where one grid is used indefinitely).

Creating lines of three jewels is functional, but to get the big scores chains and explosions are required. This tends to be down largely to luck, but the more astute gamers can plan ahead, set up multiple scoring moves and chain reactions to take place at the precise moment. Doing this - even by accident - is incredibly satisfying, and definitely makes up for all the times when you can only manage a single line of three. However, it can feel random and often unintended, so most players will just plod along, hitting individual lines of three as we go.

Thankfully despite how bleak the grid may look or how clueless you may feel, it’s always playable and there is always help at hand - a quick tap of triangle will show a move that can be made if you become stuck, albeit at the cost of a little of the progress bar, which is perfect for those times where despite incessant staring, no moves make themselves apparent. Similarly, if you sit staring at the screen for too long, the game always highlights a move, so it never allows frustration to settle in too deeply.

There are a handful of game modes, the primary four being Classic, Puzzle, Timed and Endless. There are also four alternate types where the rules get twisted; even though these are just variations on the theme, there is plenty of content here for even the most dedicated of gamers. Whilst Bejeweled 2 doesn’t feature a great deal of variety across its differing modes - particularly compared to recent fellow PopCap release Plants vs. Zombies - it would be misplaced to accuse it of a lack of content, in the same way it would be calling Tetris a bit repetitive.

If there’s one area Bejeweled 2 feels compromised, it’s in the control scheme. Although Sony Online Entertainment have done the best possible job in transferring it to a control pad, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a game best played with a mouse, and it never feels quite as natural at a fast pace (or slow pace, depending on the game mode) as it does with a PC control scheme.

Bejeweled 2 sits perfectly alongside the likes of echochrome or Cuboid as one of the better puzzlers on PSN. It’s apparent that the PS3 is not the most ideal fit for a game such as this, but SOE have done the best job possible in porting the game over. At £7.19 (or $10), there’s a lot of content here, and combined with some addictive and realistically attainable trophies, it’s a perfect purchase for core gamers, puzzle fans and casual gamers alike.