Family Game Reviews, Game Reviews, Puzzle Game Reviews > Gemsweeper Review by Meryl

Gemsweeper Review by Meryl

Gemsweeper, I realized the game resembles Sudoku. You don’t fill in numbers, but you apply a similar strategy in trying to find the hidden gems and uncover the blanks. Paul, my significant other, said upon watching me play, “Hey, Minesweeeper look-alike!”

Minesweeper wasn’t my game. I preferred Solitaire over Minesweeper back in the days when Windows came with the two games. I tried Minesweeper a couple of times, but Solitaire won. No matter, Gemsweeper reeled in Paul and me. He couldn’t resist helping me with my game. I told him to shoo because I wanted to figure it out myself.

This puzzle game — which consists of a grid of tiles — adds a Mayan expedition feel as players work to restore the temples around the city. Each temple contains 14 puzzles in which you uncover gems hiding under the tiles and dispose of cursed tiles. Professor McGuffog guides you through the tutorial and game.

The grid could range from 5×5 tiles to a huge 30×30 tiles. Numbers appear at the top and side of the tiles to help you figure out which are cursed and which aren’t. As you find all the gems to complete the puzzle, a picture appears leading to a McGuffog corny line. I could do without the cheesy comments, but I welcome his company.

At the end of a level when you’ve rebuilt the temple, you play a bonus round where you must find a set number of gems before time runs out.

The thing that drives me insane is the use of the right and left mouse buttons. The left uncovers gems while the right breaks cursed tiles. Too many times, I clicked the wrong button. But this approach works better than the alternate way. The other way is to click the hammer icon each time you want to switch modes. The developer did the right thing, as I don’t think there’s a better way. Taking your time is probably the best way to avoid the mistake I make.

Uncover too many curse tiles and the game ends. Of course, you can replay the puzzle. The game comes with Quest and Arcade mode. In Quest mode, you rebuild the temple. Arcade mode works more like the bonus rounds — when you clear a row, another appears in its place.

The game comes with over 200 puzzles and 30 treasure hunter “titles.” You earn a promotion when you reach a set score. While the promotions don’t do much for the game play, it’s nice to claim a new rank. Plus, I learned a new word, “Tuareg,” the name of one of the ranks. A Tuarag is a member of Muslim nomads in the Sahara who typically speak Berber or Hamitic.

Like Sudoku, Gemsweeper requires thinking and logic to succeed. I’ve stayed up an hour past my bedtime thanks to this energizing game. Thankfully, the Quest lasts a long time with the many temples needing rebuilding. I don’t want it to end and hope that Lobstersoft will release more puzzles. Since I regularly play and review games, I rarely continue to play a game after completing the review. But this one keeps interfering with other reviews because I crave to play it and watch colorful gems fly.

System Requirements: Windows