Popcap game bejeweled 3 series#

Each hand scores points, and as the game progresses, easier hands become locked, forcing you to get smarter and smarter with your moves. I had the most fun with Poker, a mode that turns your matches into cards that must be combined to form valid poker hands. You don't have to play for very long to gain access to them, and once you do, you'll probably stick with them for a very long time. Particularly interesting in Bejeweled 3 are the fun unlockable modes.

Even though the core mechanic of gem swapping is the game, it somehow manages to be different all over again. PopCap has really outdone itself with this installment, and as you can clearly see from the wall of text above, it's more than just moving things around a grid.

Popcap game bejeweled 3 series#

It's no wonder the series is the flagship for the match-3 genre. PopCap designed Zen mode with actual studies in mind, and reducing anxiety is something so very few games can lay claim to.Īnalysis: Bejeweled 3 is a whole lot of Bejeweled. Finally, breath modulation uses audio and visual cues to regulate breathing patterns, a great first step in soothing your nerves. Then, incorporate positive mantras or binaural beats to create new patterns in your brain that put you in a different state of mind. For starters, you can change the background music to ambient sounds like rain falling through leaves or waves on the beach. Bejeweled 3 goes about ten steps further and adds a host of customizable tools that help you relax.

Most games feature a Zen mode that strips timers and other stressful features from gameplay.

Here's what you might not expect to get from Bejeweled 3: a serious relaxation tool. The list goes on, and there's no shortage of challenge to be found in Quest mode! Time Bomb, for example, asks you to match ten bomb gems before the timer hits zero, and Alchemy challenges you to turn the whole grid into gold by making matches that spread to each column and row. Then there's Quest mode, a hefty experience that's packed with mini-game-style levels built around a single goal. Lightning mode is a race against the clock where you have to match time gems to keep the hourglass from emptying. You'll probably start with Classic, which is exactly what the name implies and lets you work your way into higher, more challenging levels by matching gems to fill up a meter. Hitting certain milestones in each of these unlocks four additional modes. Four modes are available from the start: Classic, Zen, Lightning, and Quest. Where the game really captures your attention, though, are the extra modes that incorporate goals, challenges, and twists on the Bejeweled formula. These bonuses are constant throughout most of the game, rewarding you for being wily with your swapping skills with big, pretty special effects and a nice clear game grid. Matching four or five gems creates Flame Gems and Hypercubes, which help clear large chunks of the screen at once, and if you create two intersecting matches, you get a Star Gem. The core experience of Bejeweled 3 remains unchanged from previous releases, maintaining that smooth look and familiar layout we could all sketch out in our sleep.

PopCap invests a lot of effort into the scarce Bejeweled sequels, and as soon as you see what Bejeweled 3 has to offer, you'll appreciate the extra attention that was put in to getting you hooked on gem swapping all over again. From the original browser game released in 2001 to the 2008 re-envisioning in Bejeweled Twist, practically every person who's ever touched a computer knows about the series. Bejeweled has been around for almost a decade, and its popularity is showing no signs of waning.