Boredworkers.com

Over the Chinese New Year break, I met up with some friends. Grazer said he enjoyed playing Bejeweled 2 (among other things). I’ve been meaning to create a game suggestion form on Boredworkers.com GotW but never got around to it. Anyway, since he brought up the game, here it is in dedication to da man: Bejeweled 2 Deluxe by Popcap Games and published by GameHouse.

I first installed the game at home and was disappointed that my old 14″ monitor could not support the resolution. That meant that I had to put off the review until later when I was in the office (hence the late release). Anyway, I installed the game yesterday and I my first impression was, “Wow! This is a cool game!”. I was totally impressed by the game’s presentation. The graphics and backdrops were crisp and impressive, while the animations were clean. It is in a class of its own as far as ‘Deluxe’ games are concerned. I played around with the options and noticed something even more impressive. An option to play the game in ‘high resolution’ mode!

Anyway, the game is a sequel to the original (and very popular) Bejeweled game. Its gameplay is based on the tried and true match-three concept. The playing field consists of a grid of multicoloured gems. Setting three gems in a row will clear those gems from play and allowing new gems to come in. The catch is that you can only move one gem at a time into an adjacent space (in other words swap locations between two adjacent gems). There are four different game modes to while away the hours with. They are as follows:

• Classic Mode:
  The original untimed game. In this game mode, the objective is to clear enough gems (and score enough points), as indicated by the progress bar at the bottom of the screen, to proceed to the next level. The game in untimed so there isn’t any pressure to beat the clock. The game is over if you run out of moves.
• Action Mode:
  Beat the clock in timed games. The objective is still the same as the classic mode. Fill the progress bar to proceed to the next level. However, the progress bar is now also a timer. Each level starts with a fixed amount of time and the progress bar will recede as time goes by. When it empties out (or you run out of moves, whichever comes first), the game is over.
• Puzzle Mode:
  Clear all gems to solve the puzzles. There’s actually a story of sorts in this mode. You warp from planet to planet, solving the puzzles there. Each level (or planet) consists of five increasingly difficult puzzles. Solve at least four of them to unlock the next level. Complete all five in each level for bragging rights. There are sixteen planets to explore in total and your progress is charted on a nicely rendered galaxy map.
• Endless Mode:
  Untimed and neverending game. ‘Nuf said. You get to play as much or as little Bejeweled as you like in this game. There is no timer and no risk of running out of moves. Like the Duracel bunny, it just keeps going and going and going and going… Rack up an unbeatable highscore and brag to all your friends.

In classic and action modes, the only way to win a level is to rack up enough points to fill the progress bar. This is achieved by clearing gems from the playing field. There are ways to score faster and bigger points as well as some powerups to aid you in your mission. As usual, making a combo and chaining will earn you points. Additionally, getting four gems in a row will create a power gem that explodes when cleared. The explosion will take out the gems within the blast radius. Getting five gems in a row will result in a hypercube. Swap the hypercube with any coloured gem and all gems of that colour on the playing field will be cleared.

To extend the play time, refer to Boredworkers.com’s Game of the Week for the recommended downloads and do the following:

• Download both recommended files.
• Install Bejeweled 2 Deluxe.
• Uncompress the crack archive to the installation folder.
• Run the Bejeweled 2 crack that was extracted.
• Click on ‘Crack it’ to apply the necessary patches.
• Verify that the results are OK.
• Run the game and have fun.

So now you know. Go on then and save the galaxy. Off with you.

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.