Advertisement

'Bejeweled' clone mixes it up

"Smiles" puts happy spin on the popular game.

June 5, 2010 at 7:13PM
A screen shot from Alan Wake 2 in an undated handout photo. Alan Wake is a new suspense game developed by Remedy Entertainment of Finland and released this week by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. (Microsoft via The New York Times) -- MAGS OUT/NO SALES; FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY WITH STORY SLUGGED WAKE-GAME-REVIEW BY SETH SCHIESEL. ALL OTHER USE PROHIBITED. --
A screen shot from Alan Wake 2 in an undated handout photo. Alan Wake is a new suspense game developed by Remedy Entertainment of Finland and released this week by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. (Microsoft via The New York Times) -- MAGS OUT/NO SALES; FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY WITH STORY SLUGGED WAKE-GAME-REVIEW BY SETH SCHIESEL. ALL OTHER USE PROHIBITED. -- (Associated Press - Nyt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Given the number of perfectly good "Bejeweled" clones lurking in the iTunes Store, it's impressive to find one, such as "Smiles," that goes its own way by changing just one rule. The object of "Smiles" is to match rows of three or more identical blocks. But instead of switching around two blocks within the grid, players must swap in a block from outside the grid to match three and then use the block they just swapped out as the next block to swap in. There's a loss of strategy in always having to use a particular block, but "Smiles" counters that by encouraging players to think quickly and keep the board constantly in motion while the score multiplier rockets upward.

The fast pace of the main game mode is a surprisingly fun departure from "Bejeweled," and a nice level of polish -- in the presentation and the responsiveness of the controls -- makes it work.

MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

Advertisement
about the writer

about the writer

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement