DS Review: Jewel Quest Expeditions

There is certainly no lack of great DS puzzlers. Over the system’s soon-to-be three year lifespan, great titles such as Planet Puzzle League, Picross DS, and even puzzle hybrids á la Puzzle Quest have drained countless hours of power from our DS li-Ion batteries. Anyone finished with the previously mentioned games, or perhaps someone interested by the title might assume that Jewel Quest Expeditions isn’t as polished or well-designed as it should, and although that is the case, the game still holds its own and could very well be worth adding to your collection, bearing its limitations. Continue reading to find out just how well Jewel Quest ranks amongst DS puzzle masterpieces.

A good puzzle game revolves around fun, addictive gameplay, and Jewel Quest is no exception. Similar to Bejeweled and countless clones of it, Jewel Quest has you matching three or more jewels of the same color to make them disappear. As you destroy jewels on a set grid, more and more keep coming right at you, meaning said grid is always full of colorful gems. Jewel Quest quickly sets itself apart from this overdone puzzle design, to some degree, by offering a specific task; clear out gems on every space of the puzzle grid. As you destroy jewels, the background color behind them changes to yellow, and if you manage to turn the whole grid to that color within the time limit you clear the level. For those that might be bored of matching similar jewels, trying to fulfill this requirement proves to be a nice departure from the standard style of puzzling.

Different grid shapes and sizes guarantee a lot of puzzle action. At times, only one or two background pieces remain to be ‘yellow-ized’, but their cornered location can certainly prove to be a challenge. Not only that, but some jewels are hidden inside rocks. In order to destroy these, you must match adjacent jewels multiple times until you can discover the color of the hidden gem so you can pulverize it. Coins are also scattered on the field, and if you manage to match three or more you get a special item which allows you to transform the background color of any specific piece; certainly a handy item when time is running out and you can’t get that jewel at the lower corner of the screen.

Jewel Quest Expeditions is perfectly handled with the stylus; tapping menus and dragging jewels to swap them is as intuitive as it gets. Although the game’s backgrounds and style fit well with the ‘search for adventure’ premise, the game offers little in-game animation; a few more bells and whistles while gem-matching would’ve helped a lot. The game’s music fits perfectly with the style, although there’s nothing catchy or worthy of recognition. Aside from these low design points, the gameplay in Jewel Quest is what makes it great.

Unfortunately, Jewel Quest’s basic gameplay is also one of the game’s low points. Puzzle maniacs will surely dig matching jewels time and time again for hours to end, but the majority of gamers will likely rather experience the game in short play sessions. The game isn’t terribly short, however. It features a decent number of worlds, each with a different theme, full of many levels and grid variations. The game’s single player quest is tied up by a story of a lost love, but as we know puzzle games don’t need a story at all, and a tacked-on one just makes things worse; skip the dialogue, there’s nothing interesting there. Jewel Quest isn’t just a decent single player puzzler, it also features a variety of multiplayer options. With just one copy of the game, two players can compete in search for the highest score, or in a race to turn all the grid background to yellow. You can also compete to discover hidden gems as fast as possible. It’s nice to see a single-card multiplayer experience that doesn’t limit itself to just one style of play.

There are many DS puzzlers far superior than Jewel Quest, but the game can give you a fun and addictive puzzle experience complete with great single-card multiplayer support. Nothing impressive design-wise, but the gameplay—a puzzler’s core element—is there and it’s great. Track down a copy at a store that offers the title for the budget price of $20 and you won’t be disappointed.

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