When I was younger, playing Street Fighter II by Capcom on my Super Nintendo was the thing I did after school work was done and on weekends when I had free time (other than playing Sim City).  The competitiveness of the game was cool and other than the occasional cheating boss character, it was cool to actually have a decent challenge in a game (remember, I suck at fighting games already so for me, it was a challenge).  We didn’t have Internet connections back then, sure big universities had it but at home, nope, we didn’t even have cell phones back in the early 90′s (again, not me anyhow though there were people that did).

Fast forward a few years, say a decade, and enter a little game called Bejeweled.  I was hooked on Bejeweled just like everyone else that played it, though I quickly tired of the single player, only going for a high score mode available.  As time went on, I learned of titles that offered more than the usual high score challenges such as Puzzle Quest (brought in RPG elements), Treasures of Montezuma series (allowed multiple moves at once to create HUGE combos) and the Jewel Quest series (that introduced storylines and board challenges).  As you can see, just a simple Bejeweled clone is going to be hard to make interesting, for me at least.

That is part of the reason I am so excited over Witch Wars: Puzzle by Com2uS- it has taken Bejeweled onto the Internet with multiplayer battles against opponents where ever in the world they may be.  While we can’t have everything in one single game, Com2uS has given us not only multiplayer (there is a single player- against the computer mode too) but they have followed the design that Treasures of Montezuma brought us and then added a fair bit of one on one fighting games to the mix not to forget the basic RPG elements.

The interesting thing that Com2uS has done is the Street Fighter 2 feel they have been able to inject into the Bejeweled gameplay.  Initially, only one character is available (with her own set of skills to upgrade and develop) but as you earn coins, or buy them through the In App Purchase system, you can buy more characters for offline play.  Purchasing a character for offline play also allows you to use that character in online battles.  By matching up swords (attack), potions (healing), books (magic/specials) and handcuffs (blocks swapping of certain icons on your opponents scree- a real nerve wracking experience in the heat of a battle).  Coins are self explanatory and very much required for improving your character so grab them whenever possible.

If you have grown tired of Bejeweled or looking for something more competitive, then grab Witch Wars: Puzzle, I will be waiting for any challengers to step up- just add “triverse” to your friends list.

Witch Wars: Puzzle by Com2uS
Platform: Android
Genre: Puzzle/Match 3/Street Fighter meets Bejeweled
Rated: Everyone (Google Play) and 9+ (the iTunes App Store)
Score: 93/100
Available now on Google Play and the iTunes App Store.

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Written by: triverse on October 14, 2012.