Customer Reviews

Jewel Quest 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like many of other PC games of this genre, the player has to match 3 or more cell objects in row or columns to complete the game board. With every match made, the objects disappear and additional objects fall from above to fill in the "holes" created by the ones just deleted. No matter how mindless and/or pointless such games of this nature may seem, and there are all too many of them, they are still quite addictive; ico Jewel Quest 2, Tournament mode especially.

In this mode, you are playing against other online players (in real time) to race against the clock to clear identical puzzle boards and earn as many points as possible. Upon clearing the board before time expires, a BONUS round allows the player to match and thereby collect silver coins to earn extra points Spending as much time as possible playing in the bonus round is key to scoring sufficient points to "WIN" the game against your online oppponent.

Opponents are drawn at random and be players literally from all over the world. After each competition, both players scores appear on the results screen, the winner (and loser) declared, and the highest scoring player for the same game board & level on that particular day is revealed. There is also a "global" average score revealed for all players. In addition, each player is "ranked" and shown how many places in the standing s/he has improved or fallen for the next game. These statistics are quite useful to evaluate your performance in each game played and see how the competition stacks up.

If you are like me, (an "older dude"), the level of online competition is fierce, and there certainly are lots of other players out there far better players than me. This can also be great cause for frustration, but a very strong motivator to do better "next time" nevertheless.

Needless to say, Tournament mode is HIGHLY addictive whereby the concept of "WINNING" may be quite elusive (especially should you have just lost to some housewife or grade schooler - a competitor's name may give you a clue - from across the Internet). Still, win or lose, especially the latter, just makes you want to play all the more to improve your score. Before long, several hours have passed and its 3AM in the morning.

This game has native African theme music and colorful backdrop screens that change periodically throughout the game(s). If the music becomes annoying, the Options Menu allows for volume controls. Also, you can optionally set the graphics mode to full screen vs. windowed (partial screen) mode and enable 3D acceleration. You must have a suitably powerful PC with a latter generation graphics card so as not to impede the high resolution graphics displays and/or dynamic response times during game play.

In the Classic game play mode (you against the computer) the levels progress through African motifs and story boards. There are several game boards (of different design) per level. In this mode, you start out with multiple lifes and play continuously until you run out of lifes. Then, you can "skip" forward to the next progressive game screen or repeat to hone your skills.

You must play a certain number of progressive games in Classic mode in order to "unlock" Buried Jewels both in the Classic or the Tournament modes. Buried jewels add a much higher level of complexity, which I have yet to find any need for. This game is already extremely challenging even at the basic level of game play.

CAVEAT EMPTOR:
Unfortunately, I bought Jewel Quest 2 off the shelf from a retailer. After I installed the CD-ROM (not req'd for game play) on my PC, it did not support Tournament mode like the current downloadable version. Like most store bought software - games included - I was unable to return it to get my money back. Without Tournament mode this game is not worth the full purchase price and for that matter why would anyone want to buy the first edition of Jewel Quest, when the sequel is so much better. Lesson learned, let the buyer beware.

In conclusion, JQ2 (obviously, with Tournament mode included) is worth the price and will certainly provide the average PC Gamer hours and hours of highly addictive entertainment.

The game itself is enjoyable. However, I didn't like having to play against a timer, and there's no option to remove the time constraint, so I took one star off for that.

Another complaint I have is that the installer puts both the game and an online interface onto your computer. You don't have a choice about whether or not to install the online component, and that application immediately begins trying to download other games onto your computer -- again, without any authorization from you. I took another star off for this. In fact, once I discovered I couldn't play the game without this unwanted additional component, I uninstalled the entire thing.

For a good jewel matching game, I recommend Bejeweled 2.

Much better than its predecessor, I found JewelQuest II far easier and more manageable... until someone mentioned to me that once you complete all the levels you can play through again... in super-hard mode. I've only made it half-way through the second go-round, and it's much more reminiscent of the impossibility that was some of JewelQuest I.

Still, it's a fun and highly addictive game, and fans of Bejeweled, Peggle, Hexic and the like will enjoy it. I highly recommend it to everyone, just be prepared to spend many an hour at the computer...

NOTE: I've never played the tournament mode, as I don't typically play on-line games. So consider this review applicable to the classic mode only!

I purchased this game as part of The Quest Trio: a disc containing Jewel Quest II, Jewel Quest Solitaire II, and Mah Jong Quest II. This review is specifically about JQII.

I won't talk about strategy, because I'm assuming you can search online for that. My specific concerns about the game involve the difficulty curve, which is dreadful. JQII is divided into 5 'Books' and a Book of "Bonus Stages," which is just Book 5 again at a MUCH harder difficulty. Good deal, right? That's 216 different boards to play! Sort of. A few of the boards repeat, but that's not my concern, because they are at different difficulties.

No, the problem is the grade of difficulty between each Book. Books 1 and 2 are practically identical except for the boards. Book 3 suddenly SPIKES in difficulty, adding a requirement to change the background to silver then gold, instead of just gold, plus these obnoxious monkey heads that revert the squares to their original state. Books 4 and 5 then go back to being virtually identical to Books 1 and 2, without the silver OR the monkey heads! Wait, what? I enjoyed Jewel Quest I because it had a predictable, but graduated difficulty curve: first adding the silver-then-gold, then the cursed heads. Each level set was just a bit harder than the previous, and that was a Good Thing. JQ II disappoints on that front, and finishing the main game from Book 4 on felt more tedious than fun, making me feel like I was just plowing through to finish it than to actually play for enjoyment.

To make matters worse, the Bonus Levels are STUPID HARD. The Specials that make Books 1-5 more or less a cake walk (I lost a life only from becoming mesmerized in the jewels and not paying attention to my time limit) suddenly disappear after each round, PLUS there is an additional jewel type in each board. The maximum 20 life stock I had accumulated depleted in only three boards. I know the game isn't meant to be finished in only one life, but that I almost could for literally 5/6ths of the game is downright ridiculous.

Furthermore, despite being a retail disc purchase, there is an obnoxious iWin Games Manager that installs with the games and, unless you dig around the site to find where it says how to open your games without loading that as well, it stays open and installs tracking cookies on your computer. To avoid this, you have to manually locate the game program on your computer and create your own shortcut, which I recommend doing if your computer runs slowly enough as it is. Even then, I found that JQII would crash at certain Chapter End sequences. If there's a patch to fix this, I have no idea and don't feel like looking, but the patch would have to change the game entirely and fix the broken difficulty curve. It's definitely a let-down after the brilliance that was JQI.

I didn't care much for the way this game was programmed!! It is specifically programmed to be an internet high jacker!! It installed sooooo much crap on my computer, it is unnecessary for that game type to run on that much info!! Every time I opened the game to play it, all these boxes popped up before I could even get to the games menu!! I had to block all these diff programs from gaining access to my internet connection, when playing the game. It buried all kinds of diff programs ex: Iwin daily, Iwin games, Iwin new games, Iwin top 10, Iwin games of the mo., etc. into my start up menu, so when I booted my computer, all those programs loading bogged my computer down. I eventually had to uninstall the software & I hope there are no more specs of it on my hard drive. It was like directing traffic after a bad WRECK there was no stopping the chaos..

I really dislike the fact that my money paid for (IWIN) to advertise on my internet connection & high jack my "browser"!!! I didn't purchase Jewel Quest II to be directed to the companies game site! It is a nasty program that I would highly recommend AVOIDING, if possible. I purchased Jewel Quest II & Curse of the Emerald Tear due to the reviews about the game itself, which I couldn't enjoy playing cause of the hassle it caused getting it open to play it. So I ended up returning them to Amazon for a full refund. I ordered them because the link I clicked on said it was from ACTIVISION, I specifically made that conscious purchase, I thought. Due to a few product reviews about this issue. I thought I'd be safe with it being programmed by a different company. There is no other company... I was bummed cause I really enjoyed playing those games & it gives me PTSD to even think about playing it now. Don't get me wrong I love the game, but I will never buy ANY game that is from IWIN.. I have since found similar games to Jewel Quest like paradise quest & 7 wonders of the world II which I have enjoyed tremendously, without any problems.. I will enter review on prod page. I do believe that Jewel Quest is only from IWIN, no one else that I know of makes it.. So, do your homework before you purchase software from this company IWIN. If you see GALACTICS your OK, they are just a SELLER!!

Great music, graphics, and a story too. I can't stop playing, trying to win the really hard levels. Will see if it's possible.

I love this game, it's addicting and very entertaining. This seller went the extra mile to get it to me because it had to be sent twice. The first time, it seems to have gotten lost in the mail somewhere. The second time was a charm. Thank you so much for making sure that I received it. I play it everyday.

I purchased this game for my wife, who has been playing it for over 2 years and loves the game, but somehow she accidently un-installed it on her computer and when she re-downloaded the game, it was a newer version, and it never would work on her computer again. So we found it online in CD form and bought it and it plays perfectly on her computer now. Everytime she starts up the game it gives a message that there is a newer version of the game, do you want to download and she simply hits no because we are afraid the newer version won't work on her computer.
She is running XP Home Edition Service Pack 3, with the latest video drivers.
We got a great deal from Amazon.com., $2.50 plus shipping. You can't beat that...

This item was used near new condition very cheap in price Seller sent it quickly and wrapped well Fast delivery I am very pleased.

For anyone who enjoyed Jewel Quest, the original, you will like this one much better. It actually allows you a chance to win games the higher up you get and the harder they become...unlike Jewel Quest, which I still cannot beat. The main problem I found with Jewel Quest was that after a certain level, you are no longer offered the chance to change to the next map. Because the "black masks" that keep invading your jewel board do not fall off the board unless you line them up, it's nearly impossible to beat a difficult game. I've played the level I am on now over 100 times...and I still cannot beat it. I beat Jewel Quest II in less than a week, and enjoyed doing it. Worth the buy.