A Shiny Endeavor
Fans of matching games; more importantly, fans of shiny objects will absolutely adore Jewel Match. Never before has a matching game utilized a presentation that was so jaw-droppingly gorgeous. From the stunning title screen to the pristine gameplay to the lovely ambience, this one belongs in a treasure chest.
Right from the start, I was completely captivated by all of the bright colors and stunning animation. The title screen is very clean and all of the visuals really pop out at you. The animation is very smooth, with no clunky hiccups or unnatural movements. The levels themselves consist of dazzling jewels that are very pleasing to the eye. I've spent so much time playing games with crude and downright ugly graphics, I was totally awestruck by what I saw here.
As if that weren't enough, the audio is almost right up there with the visuals. The music sounds like something from your favorite fantasy movie and the ambience sounds like you're in an enchanted forest, which really helps you become immersed in the game. The sound effects are simple clinks and clanks, but they work perfectly fine.
A Wealth of Fun
Jewel Match utilizes your standard swap style of gameplay, where you click on two adjacent gems to swap their places and try to make a row of three or more. Unlike a lot of games, where you must create a row over every tile to proceed, here you are presented with a few select tiles that have been turned gold, and you must match jewels over those tiles to complete the level. Some gold tiles are covered with silver and they will require two matches to be made over them. Each time you create a row, additional tiles will drop down to fill the spots left by the matched tiles, usually resulting in some serious combos.
Tools of the Trade
What would a puzzle game be without cool tools to help you in your journey? Hammers are easy to come by and can have smashing results (sorry). There are three types of hammers, each better than the last. In order to get the various hammers, you must rack up a certain amount of points. To upgrade these smashing monstrosities, you must hold on to your current one and accumulate even more points. The first one will simply smash a gem, the second will smash a gem and it's background tile, and the third will smash all gems of one color, along with their background tiles.
There are many other objects that will help immensely once you get your hands on them. Pearls can act as any type of gem. Bombs can be matched in any row, and they will explode and take out the background tile, even if it's silver and gold. Launchers, although rather scarce, will remove a full line of jewels and their backgrounds.
Not all items are blessings, however. Boulders, when matched in threes, will actually rebuild the tiles behind them. This can be avoided, however, if they are matched from boulders falling down rather than you manually matching them.
Hidden Treasure
Jewel Match might not break any new ground, but it's a darn fun game and a real sight to see.
