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?

[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?

[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.

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.

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.

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: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.