Takes the concept of Bejeweled to a brand new level that is both deep and satisfying for puzzle and RPG fans.
+ The main part of the game is similar to Bejeweled. You have a game board with different colored tiles and you have to match them in pairs of three or more. What really makes this leap far ahead of Bejeweled, though, is the RPG elements of the game. You have a character class, spells, stats, gold, experience points, mounts, companions, item slots, etc. These two combined create an enormously addicting game. It also adds an entirely new dimension to the classic design of matching tiles. Instead of just trying to find any match, you really have to strategically play this game (at least later on in the game). Since this is a versus puzzle, you are playing against an AI enemy. Yes, the AI can be very challenging and many people claim that the AI "cheats." Sure, the AI seems to get very lucky and know where to chain combos and which other tiles will drop in the right place, but I didn't really mind it that much. It provides a challenge and without it the puzzles would be way too easy. It forces you to decide whether to match a certain color of gem on the board, or move to a different group so that your opponent won't be set up for a good move, or whether you should cast one of your spells. You also have to decide which color tile to try and match so that you can collect enough colors to cast your spells. You also have to be aware of looking out for matching 4 or more which will grant you another turn, plus the wild card tiles, plus the skull tiles that do direct damage. All of this really takes the gameplay to a new level of strategy. Sure, you can just try to match random tiles but you really won't make it far. If you plan and play this like a turn-based RPG then you'll be a lot more successful. Besides the basic versus puzzles against an enemy, there are also puzzle boards which you play when you are attempting to capture an enemy (and you can capture an enemy after you've defeated a similar enemy three times). Once you've captured the enemy then you can learn new spells from it in a survival board, where you have to match a certain number of colors by yourself and hope that you won't run out of moves. There is just so much to do and it is all really fun.
Story/Presentation: 2/5
+ Okay, honestly the story is pretty weak. But the fact that it has a story is gratifying. It gives you a reason for doing the puzzles. Instead of Bejeweled which just makes you do puzzles for no reason, now you can imagine in this world you do combat by solving these puzzle boards. The fact that there are quests and companions also adds a new dimension to this game and fuels you to keep playing to complete the story.
Graphics: 2.5/5
+ The graphics really aren't wonderful either. A lot of them are just static 2D drawings that have no animations. But this can be easily overlooked because it's not the main part of the game. Most of the time you'll be playing on the game board, and the graphics in this mode are fine enough.
Value: 5/5
+ A tremendous value. I beat the game and managed to clock over 40 hours. Granted, two of those hours were spent in survival mode trying to learn a really good spell. Nonetheless, there was still a lot more I could have done including level up my mount, learn more spells, etc. Still, you can essentially play this game forever since you can keep playing after you beat the main quest, or you can even play multiplayer against someone else. For the standard price of $10 this game offers so much. If you have any small interest in playing this game, I would definitely recommend you pick it up.