Bejeweled 3 has arrived, PopCap Game’s first true sequel to the franchise in six years, bringing twice as many game modes than before, eight mini games and new sound and visuals.
The sequel to the popular puzzle game offers HD graphics – 1,920×1,200 in ultra mode – and a new soundtrack.
Bejeweled 3 includes eight different modes, with four secret modes, including Butterflies, Diamond Mine, Ice Storm and Poker.
Butterflies mode lets players match butterfly gems to free them before they ascend the board. Diamond Mine lets players explode gems in order to tunnel downwards and get gold, artifacts and Hypercubes.
Poker allows players to make matches to create the best poker hands to score points. Ice Storm makes players match gems quickly in order to keep columns of frost away.
The game also includes 65 achievement badges to test the player’s merit.
Classic mode brings the usual Bejeweled experience along with new features, including the Star Gem.
Bejeweled Blitz is back, with a new Lightning mode to make players beat the clock.
Zen mode brings a more relaxing endless mode, which even includes options for stress relief, including “breath modulation, ambient sounds, binaural beats and mantras for focusing your thoughts.”
Quest mode offers more variants, such as Balance and Alchemy, to test the player’s skills as they try to restore five lost relics.
Living room launch party
PopCap Games held a launch party for the new sequel in London, based … in a sitting room.
The event included a “cosy, chilled out tea party” held in a real London sitting room with not-so-celebrity guest stars including “a women’s institute secretary, a granny, a Welsh librarian, a glamorous banker and a trendy dad.”
“Video gaming has become as mainstream a lifestyle entertainment as watching TV or reading a book so we couldn’t think of a better place to launch Bejeweled 3 than a living room,” said Cathy Orr, spokesperson for PopCap Games.
“Bejeweled is a phenomenon appealing to the widest possible audience of everyone – men and women, aged 6 to 106, from kids to glamorous businessmen and women to grandparents.
“The aim of today’s launch was to underscore the diversity of the game’s fanbase, demonstrate how people play – and allow some of the UK’s biggest Bejeweled fans to get to grips with the new game!”
Bejeweled 3 is on sale now on PopCap.com and other portals, such as MSN Games, Pogo.com, Steam, GameHouse and WildTangent.
