But where to begin? With the granddaddy of all casual games of course - Bejeweled.

For those of you new to our planet and/or dimension, let me get you up to speed. Bejeweled is, in most peoples assessment, the most successful casual game of all time. Everyone from soccer mom's to hardcore l33t speakers has had their proverbial fingers in that proverbial pie at one time or another. The gameplay itself is simple -- move pieces around a grid to form lines of three or more. Those lines disappear, more pieces fall onto the grid, lather rinse repeat. The only catch is that a piece can only be moved if it will create that line of three or more. It's the same kind of simplicity that made Tetris one of the biggest things to hit western culture since Christianity/sliced bread.

So how does this universally loved formula hold up when moved to a tiny mobile screen? In a word - fan-fucking-tastic.

Visually the game seems to nail down exactly what you'd want in a mobile game - the jewels you move around are each distinct enough in color that you'll never get confused, and they're placed well enough apart from each other so as not to be hard on the eyes. Nothing to write home about in the graphics, but then again what would be on a cell phone? They got right what they needed to -- they made it playable, pretty, and easy on the eye strain.

The gameplay itself comes in two modes - Classic and Action. In classic, you play pressure free and build up your score as high as you can until you reach the dreaded "NO MOVES LEFT" screen. In action, you're up against a timer that you add time to by completing lines. When the timer runs out, you're toast, but the trade off is the No Moves screen just resets the board and you keep on going. Both modes let you save your progress, so if you're blasting your high score out of the water but getting off the bus or going to get bad news from the oncologist all you have to do is pause and save to pick up where you left off later.

All in all a solid port of a popular puzzle title. If you already like Bejeweled and are looking for a time-killer to take on the road with you, Bejeweled mobile is money well spent.

Comments (6)

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, January 25, 2008

The only cell phone game I ever bought was Diner Dash and that's just cause I was bored out of my mind one day waiting in an emergency room with my girlfriend

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written by Jim Squires, January 26, 2008

"I was so unconcerned with my girlfriends gaping head injury that I decided to purchase Diner Dash."

Isn't that a little more accurate, sir?

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, January 26, 2008

I really had no right to get all worked up, being that I'm the one that caused the injuries in the first place

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written by bdwilcox, January 27, 2008

If we created a game based on Dan's past girlfriends, it would be called "Minor Gash".

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written by pedro, July 12, 2008

some one please know de register code for bejeweled?

thanks

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written by Jim Squires, July 12, 2008

does this look like a piracy forum to you? Go buy it and support the developer, el cheapo.

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