About a year ago the 1001 list threw up the casual gem-matching monster that was Bejeweled 2, for which I didn't have a great many kind words. Addictive and tacky, effectively, but who am I to argue with the millions who played it on their phones or whatever.
How do you go about developing on that idea? What do you do to warrant the purchase of another tile-matching game involving coloured gems and explosions of points?
How about you put a little twist into things? How about Bejeweled Twist?
Frustrations
There are a couple of issues getting Bejeweled Twist to run on Windows 10, but fixes are what fans do best and I eventually had a game that believed itself capable of running on Ultra settings so that I could see all the teeny tiny glittery details it had to show me.
It's worth familiarizing ourselves with how to play because this is no longer a game about tile swapping, but tile twisting. Groups of four tiles in a 2x2 block are rotated clockwise step by step, and importantly don't snap back if they fail to find a matching block of gems.
This means you can mouse through the grid swapping this and that around until you chain together a set of 3 or more of a single coloured gem to rake in bonus points and eliminate bombs and locked gems and so on.
There are a fair few ways to score points here, though explaining them in detail is a task beyond me. Matching three gems is your simplest score. If your next twist matches another set, that's great. If you have to twist multiple blocks of gems, your combo meter will drop down and you won't score as many points.
If you happen to match a specific colour, in this case, green, and then match a blue, yellow and finally purple set, you'll score more bonus points, and, of course, clear the way for yet more gems to flood into the grid for you to deal with.
Obstacles come in the form of locked cages around a single gem, forcing you to rotate other gems to it in order to link it to anything, but more common are spaces that are instead filled with coal. Nobody wants coal. Coal doesn't even want coal. You get rid of it by matching a nearby set using a fire or lightning variant gem, which spawn when you match four or five of that colour.
So far, so tile-matching game, I suppose. It makes you think, and if you really want the combos and the highest of high scores, you'll need to think a few moves ahead, or at least not click around like a maniac, because not only will that reduce your combo bonus, but it'll keep any bombs ticking down, too.
The first bomb is more likely to be safe. The second one you miss is more likely to explode, but you might still be lucky. I'm not sure you'll get a third spin of the wheel, so do aim to get rid of them swiftly.
After five minutes, I snuck onto the bottom of the high scores and that was that. I had my fill of Bejeweled Twist. Away with you.
Final Word
This entire genre of games is designed to keep you hooked, staring at the screen for hours on end with their simple mechanics and "One more go" attitude. I could easily see myself passing the time with such a game, and if the right one came along, maybe I would.
That's my problem if problem is the right word. Bejeweled Twist isn't the right one. It's in high definition and looks marvellous, but is still the cheap-looking gem matcher that I associate with the genre. Whip up the graphics, polish them up, shove it out the door, rake in the downloads.
It's a rather cynical opinion, especially when it supposedly took four years for the developers to get it right. To their credit, it's a fine game. It's puzzling, it's appealing, it's addictive, but it doesn't offer me anything. It sucks away my time and rewards me with what, a slight buzz at getting a good score? For a casual session of gaming, yeah, sure, it fits the bill, but it's so devoid of meaning.
At this point, Tetris has popped into my head. Tetris is puzzling, appealing, addictive. Does it offer me anything substantial beyond the buzz of a high score? Is it devoid of meaning? Doesn't it have a plot about fixing a wall, or knocking it down? Does that make Tetris more meaningful than Bejeweled Twist?
Comparing the two games isn't right, of course. They're different beasts, but why am I so forgiving over one and not the other? Because I grew up playing it? Because it comes from a time before mobile gaming started to skyrocket?
There's no denying that there is a solid game here, one that anybody can get into (and get stuck into) and enjoy. I just think there are better, more enjoyable ways to waste my time - even in tile-matching games.
Fun Facts
The Blitz mode I played was originally unlocked once you rank up through normal play to level 10. It's the Steam version of the game that strips this requirement out, allowing us to only play for 5 minutes, rather than for however long it would have taken us to reach level 10. To whoever was behind including it from the start instead, thank you.
Bejeweled Twist, developed by PopCap Games, first released in 2008.
Version played: PC, 2008.