Because You’re Broke #1: Bejeweled

Welcome to Pixel Perfect Gaming’s first of many articles for gamers that don’t have any money but would still like to enjoy some of the more fun games available for PC’s. We are kicking this event off with a casual game that has seemingly still been kicking butt for awhile now and has shown no signs of really slowing down with many variants still being released. While these titles are not new or anything they are free and are of a fairly high level of quality.

Attack from Mars, programmed by Mark Incitti, is at first glance a clone of Bejeweled for color Palm Pilots from years ago. Not great graphics but AfM does have little additions like rotating piecs, particles fall when pieces are matched and there are random pieces that turn to alien faces. These alien faces morph from random pieces on the board and cannot be moved till they morph into another piece on the board again. AfM allows diagonal movement to make a match (though not diagonal matches), something that is not seen in many of these Bejeweled clones (or many more recent retail releases either). One nice addition is not having to wait for the pieces to finish matching before you can make another match, which can really add to the amount of stuff going on onscreen. Graphics are as you might expect, about on par with early Super Nintendo graphics for it’s puzzle games. Not great but they get the point across (besides, when have graphics been the #1 concern of a puzzle gamer?). There is background music but you will want to skip it (one track reminds me of one of the songs from Stand By Me the movie) the sound effects are sci-fi in nature and fit really well with the rest of the game. If you want a Bejeweled game for free, with a slight sci-fi theme (cakes and basketballs aren’t really that sci-fi unless you are a hardcore E.T. fan) then give AfM a chance, you may like it.

5out of 10
Attack from Mars at Acid-Play

BeCandied is a good example of how to not make a Bejeweled clone. In this game, when there are no more matches, the screen goes black and the words “No more moves, reshuffling” are plastered there. This by itself would not be that big a deal, but as soon as you turn on the game I was presented with up to 20 seconds of the game flipping back and forth, one match then the black screen, then the game board for one match to go right back to the black screen. This happened to me many many times, not just the first time that I turned on the game. The sound effects are decent (though there is no music) and the pieces animate when clicked on and when matched, they fall down the screen. The only real redeeming quality for BeCandied to me is the tally on the right side of the screen that tells you how many of each candy you have matched up (much like how the Nintendo version of Tetris kept track of the individual pieces that have been played. Not enough to save BeCandied but still an interesting addition.

1 out of 10
Becandied at Caiman.us

BeGhouled, as you can probably decipher from the name is a Halloween themed Bejeweled game from Sandor Fekete and it is the best of the clones picked for this article. You have a choice between 3 different tile sets, each with their own sound effects. BG also plays the closest to the original Bejeweled (yes, I know they are working on Bejeweled 3 or something by now). The gameplay is there (it is there with all of these games really but with BG it just seems more polished with the animations and graphics and presentation in general). The catch with BG is not just the graphics and the time of year we are enjoying right now but with the slight gameplay tweak offered here. For every 25,000 points you score, you receive a new tile on the playfield. This is not that much of a change early on but once you get 4 new tiles on the playfield it becomes quite the challenge finding matches and fighting the clock to stay alive and score just a few more points. The proper atmosphere is set just about right for most anyone in the family (think your local super store level of graphic violence or offending material). Graphics are cartoony, or more realistic or even something straight out of Clickomania and it’s many clones if you want so you definitely have a fair bit of variety with BeGhouled that not even the original (or sequels) or the other clones presented here really offer (though Candy is Dandy had something similar with a different choice of tiles, only if it wasn’t for that flicker problem).

8 out of 10
BeGhouled at Caiman.us

Blockdrop at first glance appears to be a game that escaped the Virtual Boy from years goneby with it’s shades of red against black (with some white thrown in for good measure). As you can see from the pic there, the graphics are bare but very functional, you are matching at least 3 of the same letter as usual (except in BD, when you match more than 3, only 3 disappear, kind of wierd to get used to but you will). You are allowed to move pieces even if there is no matches for them, this makes it easier make matches that save an otherwise dead game. The sound effects and music are good, not great but they do the job. There is one annoying aspect though, when you move a piece, the music stops so the sound effect can play, then it comes back. I suggest just turning the sound down on your speakers if you are annoyed by it too much because there is no menu to do it in-game. You earn points based on what letters from the word “blocks” you match up. Dropping letters can and will match up with 2 of the same letter they come in contact with as they drop, whether at the point where the pile stops falling or on the way down (this makes for a really unique experience in planning your strategy). When matches are made, the pieces kind of “explode” out of the screen and disappear (you will have to Graphics are 3 colors, black, red and white. That is it. If you can’t get over that then well, move along now, don’t bother downloading Blockdrop.

6 out of 10
Blockdrop at Acid-Play

Candy is Dandy distributed by Micro Innovators (programmed by Ernest Fairchild) is as close as the freeware Bejeweled clones in this feature have gotten. The sound effects are different (it seems to be a scream of sorts when you make a wrong move) while the music is forgettable, decent and doesn’t get in the way, but forgettable nonetheless. You have a choice of 3 tile sets with CiD (something the other games don’t offer). One of the tilesets will make you hungry for cookies after you get done playing so if you have a sweet tooth that controls your diet more than most, skip that tileset. CiD falls apart quite a bit with an annoying “flickering” when you make a match and the pieces fall down. At first it is not that noticeable, really you will be wondering what was different and won’t be able to put your finger on it. After about 15 minutes you will almost be shying away from making matches due to that flicker. It is a shame as CiD could be a really good alternative for a gamer that is strapped for cash but as is, I can only recommend if you can get past the flicker.

6 out of 10

Cartouche, a free java game programmed by Howard Kistler and published by Dream Codec Retrogames is one of the more original Bejeweled games that I had run across when looking for titles for this article. You still match 3 of something, but much like Ishido, you can do this based on color or design (though Ishido had a third option of shape too which is not included here). In Cartouche, you are matching hieroglyph’s against the clock (that goes up based on your matches and slowly depletes while you are looking for more matches). Graphicswise, Cartouche is baren, much like hieroglyph’s are in real life (not a lot of detail to the graphics). Some of the glyphse are a little confusing to pick out in the heat of the moment but that goes away with practice. The sound effects are limited to a clinking noise that the pieces that are falling make when they land but the music is a totally different story altogether. See, the music doesn’t really fit this type of game for the most part, it sounds like a club dance mix of sorts. It is good music (one track that is long) but it just doesn’t fit Cartouche very well, though it is completely different and unique (certainly nothing like what you would expetct to hear in an Egyptian themed game). You can’t move pieces if there is no match (which may bother some people but to me, it just seems like a time saver not having to wait for the animation to play out). Check out if you are interested in something very different than the norm in Bejeweled games.

8 out of 10
Dream Codex (publisher site)
Infamous UK (musician site)

If you are still wondering exactly where to start with free Bejeweled clones, or you are the intended reader of this article (broke and still interested in some good free games in the Bejeweled style) then definitely grab BeGhouled. If you are looking for something that is similar to Bejeweled but still different enough to hold your interest or offer new challenges then you should check out Blockdrop (just be prepared for Virtual Boy color schemes) or Cartouche for something that blends Bejeweled with just a dash of Ishido.