Boredworkers.com

No, I haven’t forgotten. Inspite of being busy last week and piss drunk on Sunday, here is this week’s Game of the Week. After reviewing so many match-three type of games, this week I decided to do a match-two game. Getting on with it, we’re featuring Mah Jong Quest (MJQ for short) by iWin.com and published by Game House

As the name suggests, MJQ is a mahjong matching game. Truth be told, I don’t know who or why or how they ever came out with the concept of matching mahjong tiles. To begin with, the real game isn’t even played that way. But that doesn’t mean the ‘Mah Jong’ matching computer game genre is boring. On the contrary, it is quite addictive in some weird sense.

Game play is simple enough. A set of mahjong tiles are arranged, one tile on top of the other, on the game field. They usually form some kind of pattern or construct. The aim the game is to clear the field of tiles by matching two tiles with similar face designs. Matching two will remove it from the game and reveal the tiles underneath for further matching.

MJQ has three game modes. The first two are the Classic and Puzzle modes. Both these modes use the classic game play described above. In either mode, there are ten levels of difficulty, each with 8 different tile constructs. The classic mode adopts the classic mah jong matching game constructs that have appeared over the years. The puzzle mode on the other hand focuses on the simple theme of puzzle solving. The tiles are usually arranged in a such a manner to test a player’s puzzle solving skills. If I’m not mistaken, there is usually only one solution route to the problem.

The third and final mode of the game is what sets MJQ apart from other games (or at the very least tries to do so). It is called Kwazi’s Quest. In this game mode, you play as Kwazi, a young boy who sets out on a journey to restore the lands after it is ravished by three dragons. The story mode starts off with a cutscene showing our hero playing with a mahjong set and then goes through the initial tutorial game. It is in this game that Kwazi unwittingly unleashes the three dragons unto the land (or at least that’s what I gathered from watching the sequence).

Throughout the quest, you’ll need to solve a series of complex mahjong puzzles played over twelve landscapes (levels), named the Village, South Wind, Spring, East Wind, Summer, North Wind, Autumn, West Wind, Winter, Base Camp, Mountain Pass, and Lair Temple. Each landscape consists of 5 puzzles. Solve them all and scale the mountain to meet and defeat the three dragons. In your journey, you’ll meet with spirits of the zodiac. They don’t play any important role in the game except to tell the story that connects each level.

The game play in Kwazi’s Quest is a little different than the classic gameplay. Instead of clearing the whole field, you now need to match the yin and yang tiles hidden somewhere on the game field. To help you clear the board, there are several unique power tiles that can be used to perform special tasks (e.g. the dynamite tiles are used to destroy walls, magnet tiles to pull a tile away from a stack to grant you access to more tiles, etc). Use these wisely as they will aid you in solving the puzzles quickly.

There’s a time limit to each stage indicated by the joss stick at the top of the screen. Once this burns out, you’re out of time and you’ll lose a life. If you run out of moves, you’re given the option to reset the board and continue or to reset the board and timer at the cost of a life. A free life is granted when you reach a certain score in the game. Here are some tips for getting a higher score:

• Each tile face on the playing field usually comes in a set of 4. Match and clear all four in a row to gain an extra bonus on top of the usual matching points
• Any game tiles left over after you’ve matched the yin and yang tiles will give you a bonus as follows:
  1. 50 points for each pair of normal tiles
  2. 250 points for each power tile
  3. 1000 points for each pair of dragon tiles

Personally, I found the game to be somewhat repetitive after a while. However, this would be a great game to play if you’re a mahjong (matching) fan. Get it if it suits your fancy. Anyway, to get a little more play time, refer to Boredworkers.com’s Game of the Week for the recommended download files. Do the following:

• Download the recommended files
• Install the game
• Uncompress the crack file to the same folder where you installed the game
• Run “Mah Jong Quest (GameHouse) by Knetus.exe” (uncompressed from the archive)
• Click the “Enregistrer” button to apply the necessary patch
• Start up the game and continue your trial

Disclaimer
The author does not condone piracy. If you find that you enjoy the game after playing it for a bit, do purchase the license. Good work should be given its due.