Game review: Bejeweled 3

Bejeweled 3 is another iteration of the very popular puzzle game series made by PopCap. The game's basic premise has been taken even further than the previous titles and spin-offs and Bejeweled 3 is almost an entire package of games rather than one.
Various game modes present different goals for achieving victory, making it possible to continually feel like the player is playing something new.

Summary of analysis
Expertly accomplished tutorial elements but slightly rushed new player experience, varied gameplay experience, adequate interface and simple controls, graphics pushing limitations of the franchise, decent music with mostly good sound.

Tutorial/New player experience
In addition to the introductory/objectives windows prior to game play, Bejeweled 3 also offers hover-over context help throughout gameplay, thereby offering a constant tutorial elements and reminders of objectives throughout the play experience. One minor issue with the new player experience is that it never really teaches the player so much as lets them learn it on their own during the course of gameplay, not a large isssue as most players will probably have tried one of the many other Bejeweled games but for truly new players to the franchise, it's likely to feel a little fast. Thankfully, the game's basic mechanics are quickly learned anyhow.

Gameplay experience
I think Bejeweled is definitely blurring the lines between casual and hardcore style games. While some of the modes and sub-modes were slow-paced and forgiving, others were outright frustrating and only achievable through random gem drops being favorable. This has been a trouble throughout the franchise's history as the random nature of the game update event can easily catch the player in no-win scenarios.
Greatly to the game's credit, however, is the fact that there's enough to keep a player busy and offer a fairly lengthy replay value to itself.

Interface & Controls
While there's a pretty contingent interface through the many modes, it's probably better to just focus on the objectives and ignore it, especially in the timed modes. The control scheme is as it's always been, click first gem, click switching gem and let the game do the rest of the work.

Graphics
There's very little room for improvement or change in the graphics of Bejeweled, as it's always been colorful gems on a playing field with backgrounds and interface (at least, to the best of my knowledge). While animated objects can help and special effects can be engaging, there's only so much that really should be done before it's just a step too far, as a few modes managed to prove in the transitional scenes. Being removed from gameplay by short pauses is often more infuriating than relieving, making the loss screens akin to being taunted while the more comprehensive victory screens (which were longer) actually accomplishing of that reminder that it's just a game and to take a break every now and then.

Music & Sound
The music was decently used, managing pacing throughout.adequately. Most of the sound effects were expected and welcome, with the exception of the announcer who just grated on my nerves every time he spoke.

Commentary
I think they should be offering this title's various modes as separately purchasable in addition to the whole package. A number of the modes really contrast in their play experience with the others, which is likely to appeal to some of the game's audience rather than all. But they're managing to do a lot to really make the game worth its price tag if paying for the whole thing. Overall, PopCap has kept to their usual level of quality and accomplished a slightly new spin on a title that's kept them going a long time.