Playing all that Bejeweled Pays Off

JorgeDeLaCancha writes "The US Skill Games Championship, heading by SkillJam, will be featuring two PopCap games, Bejeweled 2 and Zuma . Paul Jensen, President of SkillJam, claims that both these games while simple in their concept offer a more challenging level of play to the expert gamers. The grand prize in this championship is one million dollars. Will we soon be seeing more similar tournaments with large prizes based on simple puzzle games?"

Comments

How about Tetris Attack?

[TheGuano]

I've never really liked Bejeweled. It always seemed like a simplistic and limited (luck-dependent) copy of Tetris Attack, which IMO is one of the best and deepest puzzle games out there. Can anyone who's spent a lot of time with Bejeweled give us a quick summary of what the elements of depth are when you're at a more expert level?

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[Gothic_Walrus]

Well, there's the um...well, you know, and the...thing.

Go RTFA, you bum. Just because you're too dumb to see the obvious doesn't make it my problem! Any bozo can see that Bejeweled requires more skill than any other game on the market!

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[improbablecause]

I don't even consider many of the "puzzle" games out there to be puzzles. I always thought puzzles required creative thought or, at the very least, thought in general to solve. I mean, just look up the word puzzle in the dictionary... "puzzle" games do not even fit the definition. All these "puzzle" games out on consoles and PCs use a minimal amount of thinking and rely far too much on twitch reflexes. Where's the problem solving? Where's the deep thought? Where are the unique solutions? The Incredible Machine deserves to be called a puzzle game more than any of these recent shams.

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[Anonymous Coward]

First person shooters aren't about shooting the first person.
Role playing games are more like repetitive adventure games these days.
Talking about adventure games, Zelda isn't one.
You would expect arcade games to be played in arcades.
Side srollers have been scrolling in all 4 directions for a long time.
Since the 3D 'revolution' platformers often are played on one big platform.

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[TheGuano]

TA does reward twich reflexes like no other puzzle game, but before you can even get to that point, you have to spend weeks or months REWIRING YOUR BRAIN to see the patterns and setups needed. That's pretty cerebral, imo. Also, a classic like Tetris unquestionably requires some major twitch reflexes, and I wouldn't hesitate to call it a puzzle game.

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[Rakthar]

At early levels, Bejeweled is fairly easy. You will generally get the pieces you need, and you won't knock yourself out too easily.

At the higher end of the difficulty spectrum, the game really attains a rubik's cube aspect to it which is quite interesting, although too challenging for me. You can't simply destroy jewels, you have to constantly be aware of what pieces you're moving down, and whether they're the kind you need or not. So an early game of Bejeweled would be like a chess game between amateurs - responding to the immediate moves your opponent plays. High level bejeweled would be like chess between masters, where you have to think many moves ahead, and there's time pressures that prevent you from taking too long.

I enjoyed that simple, fun aspect of bejeweled that the early game gave, but I had less and less fun as I got better at it. It moved from something I could do while relaxing to something that took a lot of concentration and effort, and that's not why I play short time wasters.

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[Anonymous Coward]

First person shooters aren't about shooting the first person.

You've obviously never tried making a low-health no-armor rocket jump.

More seriously:
In first-person shooters, the player plays from a first person perspective.
In role-playing games, the player plays the role of his/her avatar.
I don't know anything about Zelda, so I can't comment on that.
Many arcade games are played in arcades, from what I've seen.
(I don't play arcade games myself.)
The top and bottom sides of the screen are also sides of the screen.
I'm not quite sure what you meant by your last statement.

Re:How about Tetris Attack?

[jclast]

I can understand not calling the Legend of Zelda games RPGs because Link doesn't level up and the game is very active, but I'm curious why you don't think it's an adventure game.

You control a young man who must save his world. He travels all over the land battling fierce creatures and huge boss monsters. He finds nifty gadgets which turn out to be vital to his progress.

From dictionary.com:
An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.

That sounds an awful lot like a Legend of Zelda game to me.

Meteos

[iopred]

They need to make a Meteos competition. It truly is the only puzzle game that your can go head to head with someone else in, and feel like you actually deserved to win. Most puzzle games have way too much 'luck' involved (I'm looking at you Bejewelled), which I think generally removes them from the realm of competition games.

Re:Meteos

[MilenCent]

Well Meteos is great, but there are other puzzle games with that attribute.

My favorite (god I'm going to mention it again, aren't I) is Rampart, which has a random element but one that can be planned for, and must be for skilled play. It's also very different in execution from traditional puzzlers, which generally means that people who have practiced up on tradiional falling-block and matching-color puzzle games won't have their typical advantages.

Re:Meteos

[Akaihiryuu]

No kidding! Meteos is freaking awesome, and there is a lot more skill involved than most puzzle games. There's some luck too, but not nearly as much. It's freaking addictive too. I wish I could enter my girlfriend in a Meteos competition, she'd probably win. She managed to pwn me in 7 out of 8 games, when I had been playing it for 2 days and she had never seen it until she started playing.

Good for passing the time

[airjrdn]

When my father became terminally ill, I finally talked my Mother into letting me give her a computer. Instead of Solitare, I used Bejeweled and a couple of other games to teach her mouse movement, clicking, etc.

It's been a few years now, and she still plays Bejeweled every single night. Heck, maybe she should enter.

For those in a similar situation, check out Kyodai Mahjongg http://www.kyodai.com/

Before you dismiss it based on the name, please do yourself a favor and check it out. It's not just Mahjongg. It's about 6 different games all rolled into one 2D/3D app and is very nice with tons of tweaking options, tiles, nice music, etc. My wife and I actually used to have little competitions playing Rivers (part of Kyodai Mahjongg). There's even a two player mode if you're interested.

Re:Good for passing the time

[Gnulix]

It's not just Mahjongg.

I think that should read; "It's not Mah Jong at all". Although these solitaire tile matching games can be great fun, they aren't really Mah Jong games. Real Mah Jong is a wonderful game. Try it out, you'll surely love it.

Re:Good for passing the time

[airjrdn]

It's got the normal Mahjongg game, withing Kyodai it's called Solitair I believe.

Re:Good for passing the time

[kwoff]

My dad's wife plays these kinds of games hours every night. It's like she's in a trance. And my mom's husband plays solitaire every day before going to work. I don't understand what makes them play these games over and over.

Re:Good for passing the time

[airjrdn]

I don't either. But, I don't understand what makes my 2 and 3 year olds want to watch the same shows over and over either. Crazy isn't it?

Unfortunately, it's the games I got her started on that keep her locked into using Windows. It's not that I necessarily think Linux is better, but at least right now it's hard to argue that it's not safer from viruses and such. Since her only uses for the PC are the web, email, and these games, if there were equivalent versions of these games for Linux I could switch her immediately.

Re:Good for passing the time

[triso]

Well, I've heard of "Jools" and "Gweled" for Linux. They look the same but I can't say if the game-play is the same or not. Try a quick search for "bejeweled for linux" on google.

Zuma is a great cellphone game.

[88NoSoup4U88]

I just bought the cellphone version of Zuma after a friend recommended it : It's a great game, and can best be described as some Bust-A-Move spin-off ; Allthough that wouldn't give to much credit to how it really plays.

Just as Bejeweled, it's a great game if you have a few spare minutes left.

Re:Zuma is a great cellphone game.

[jx100]

Try a game known as PuzzLoop (Japan) or Ballistic (US). Zuma's practically a clone of it.

OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[Eightyford]

I find bejeweled to be a little on the mindless side of the gaming spectrum. It's kind of like playing yahtzee with yourself, really. I think zuma is a little better, but it's just about fast reflexes and my laptop trackpad isn't too great for that game.

Does anyone know of any great games that involve a little more thinking and a little less twitching? An online version of dr. mario would be pretty cool. Word games like bespelled are nice too.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[moonbender]

There are lots of multiplayer online tetris games, Tetrinet is one example. As for word games, there are lots of those as well. PopCap has Bookworm, which is great fun, and very much non-twitching.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[Furry Ice]

I second the vote for Dr. Mario. I've been seriously addicted to that game (Gameboy version) for years. It's downside is that it has a big twitch and luck factor at level 20+ at hi speed, though.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[Sigma 7]

I find bejeweled to be a little on the mindless side of the gaming spectrum.

Staying within the Bejeweled genre, you could try Big Kahuna Reef. While it is still considered "mindless", the fact that you need to break each box adds an element of strategy. (Of course, I did see Jewel Quest first, but that's slightly more primitive.)

There's still fast action needed if you want to unlock the bonus pack, which generally needs to make 31 breaks (with none of them more than 6 seconds apart.) Not too much of a problem, since you don't have to wait until the pieces fall before you can make your next move.

The Reflexive Arcade demo lasts 60 minutes, not including time spent on the menu or screen saver. You might also find other games you find interesting as well, but most of the action puzzles may have a focus on speed.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[MilenCent]

Weboggle: weboggle.shackworks.com. Essentially, it's a browser-based version of Boggle. You find words in a grid and type them in. No blocks disappear or anything. You find as many words as you can in three minutes, and then you're told how you scored compared to everyone else who's playing at that moment. Then you do it again. And again, until you get sick of it and close the window.

There's no cost, it's ad free, and it has none of that lame, glitzy, console-wanna-be chintz. It's just a solid, pure Javascript + DHTML implementation, little graphics, and a solid game engine.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[Anonymous Coward]

Scrabble Blast over at http://funkitron.com/ is pretty darn fun.

Re:OFF TOPIC - good online games?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks! Awesome game!

Tetris Attack

[QEDog]

Have you ever played Tetris Attack? I still play this 1996 (I love my SNES) jewel that most people haven't ever heard off. The game is incredibly addictive, in particular against a human opponent. It has a lot of depth; solid, real depth without random stuff to keep it interesting. In fact, I feel it is better than Tetris is some ways, as it is very challenging, with a faster pace and less frustrating (you can't just make a horrible mistake that ruins everything). Seriously, check it out. Nintendo should rerelease this game for the new consoles, or for DS (no Pokemon Puzzle Crap, just Tetris Attack please).

Re:Tetris Attack

[wed128]

Tetris attack is one of the greatest puzzle games of all time, in fact Meteos draws a lot of inspiration from it. I don't believe it has the "cult" status that you think it does though, anyone worth their salt in the puzzle genre has heard of it.

Re:Tetris Attack

[MilenCent]

I and a friend played a fair amount of Tetris Attack, though you should know its original name, in Japan, was Panel De Pon. Before Nintendo could release the game under that name now, they'd probably have to clear it with the Tetris company (which I don't think is their exact name, but is close to it). There's been a GC game called Nintendo Puzzle Collection, that's been out in Japan for a while but has yet to make it over here, that contains that game and two others. That's probably our best chance for a further update.

I've read up a little on the game as well as played it a while. Yes, it's an interesting concept, and better than the average class of puzzler. High-level play consists on finding quick matches and setting up future matches. But it also involves keeping the STOP counter going as long as possible, and that feels a little artificial.

By the way, it shares more than a little in common with Meteos; Panel De Pon only allows you to swap pieces horizontally, Meteos lets you swap vertically (and very rapidly, with the stylus), but the idea of manipulating pieces to create rows and columns of matching blocks remains.

Re:Tetris Attack

[AvitarX]

Interesting that you quote cult even thought the GP didn't use the word.

Anyway, I would think the segment of puzzle gamers "worth there salt" is certainly smal enough to call it a cult, expecially since it is a SNES game.

Re:Tetris Attack

[cableshaft]

Forget the stop counter. Tetris Attack isn't good because of its single player mode. It's ALL about the multiplayer (human or CPU opponent). This game puts so much more stress on you to find your way out of a rock and a hard place pretty much constantly after 3 mins it becomes a very intense experience. It's still the most excited I get while playing a game competitively.

Meteos does a pretty decent job of recreating that feeling, but not quite. There's no real point to making combos in Meteos (combos equals hurting your opponent much more in TA), and you don't have a screen and a half of solid rock slammed on your tiles at the end game that you're constantly trying to combo (cuz that's the only way you'll beat the opponent) into smaller and smaller blocks while quickly running out of blocks to use, and eventually your brain just stops working and you can't find a match anymore and BOOM! All over, relief! Take a few breaths, let's do it again!

Meteos is good, but I'd much rather have my Tetris Attack on the DS. They've still only made a gameboy version of that, right? Yeah, that one kinda sucked.

Re:Tetris Attack

[MilenCent]

Meteos does feel a little more gimmicky with the block-launching play, but it's also more different because of it.

Tetris Attack has versions for GB (so you say, I'm not familiar with that version), SNES and (as Pokemon Puzzle League) N64. Plus, in Japan the SNES game (under the name Panel De Pon and with cutsy fairy graphics) was released as part of Nintendo Puzzle Collection for Gamecube.

Re:Tetris Attack

[cableshaft]

I wouldn't say the block launching in Meteos is gimmicky. It's interesting, and changes how you play. But the game still doesn't quite recreate the intensity of Tetris Attack.

I'm aware of the other releases. I'm still mad Nintendo Puzzle Collection is not going to be released in the US. But none of those are portable.

I can play the SNES version on an emulator for my NGage, but it's kinda slow, doesn't have the music, and it doesn't support a 2nd controller so I can't set up a 2P VS against the CPU at its highest AI setting, so it's not the same :(. I NEED A DS RELEASE! Or GBA would work too, but using the stylus to switch seems like it might be faster than moving that cursor around, thanks to the example Meteos gave.

Hot tip for contestants..

[Rob T Firefly]

If you get the whistle, it opens the warp!

luck

[Anonymous Custard]

Bejeweled 1 (never played 2) always seemed more about luck-of-the-draw than raw skill. It wasn't large enough to really plan out any big moves.

Not "a few spare minutes" (was: Re: Zuma)

[TeXMaster]

Games like Bejeweled and co. can easily suck up your whole afternoon or day (24hrs) if you choose to give them a spin for an "a few minutes break" ... trust me, I talk out of experience. These things are addictive