Jewel Keepers: Easter Island

Genre: Match-3 Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Jewel Keepers, is a Match-3 Puzzle game in the same style as Bejeweled. This game was first released on Mobile devices and PlayStation Portable in 2010, then ported to PC, Wii (via the WiiWare marketplace) and Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2011, as well as being released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

Jewel Keepers’ presentation makes use of colorful 2D visuals for its gameplay, backed by a relaxed, Jazzy soundtrack that I actually found to be kinda’ catchy. There’s nothing truly exceptional going on here, but it’s decent all the same.

The gameplay itself is mostly a take on the classic Bejeweled Match-3 formula, with the main difference being that the goal is not to just keep going as long as you can or to get a high score, but to highlight the entire game board by making matches in front of every space within a time limit.

All of this is fine, it works, but it does so little that is interesting or original that there just isn’t much to distinguish it from the countless other games that use the same formula, and certainly not enough to justify the game’s $5 price tag.

And… really, that’s all there is to it. If you’re looking for a simple, straightforward, traditional Bejeweled-style Match-3 Puzzle game, Jewel Keepers will get the job done, but it’s depressingly derivative (I copied the majority of this review from yet another Bejeweled clone, Jewel Quest IV, and didn’t even really need to change much), and it does nothing to justify its $5 price tag when there are countless other games just like it, including many cheaper than this. Unless you absolutely need to get a bland Bejeweled clone on Nintendo 3DS, skip this one.

tl;dr – Jewel Keepers is a Match-3 Puzzle game that’s pretty much just an off-brand version of Bejeweled with some minor gameplay differences and a Easter Island theme. It’s a decent Bejeweled clone, I suppose, but for $5 I think you can do better on Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: C-

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