I’m one of those casual gamers who is always engaged by the Bejeweled experience. When I thought the iPhone version of Bejeweled was the greatest thing since sliced bread and it couldn’t get any better, PopCap Games continued to richen the Bejeweled experience by releasing a Facebook version of the game, Bejeweled Blitz.

Bejeweled Blitz takes the Bejeweled 2 formula and allows Facebook users to play through a timed (1:00 minute) round. After a minute, your round ends and your score is updated on your high score table (along with the scores of your Facebook friends who are also playing).

From playing quite a few rounds of Bejeweled Blitz, I have come up with a few tips and observations that help me accumulate my high scores.

1. Play often and play quickly:

Bejeweled Blitz adds the Speed score feature that is vital if you wish to increase your overall score. For ever successful match of 3 of more gems that you make, the Speed score will increase in increments of 100, until it reaches 1000. For your first successful matching, you’ll get 100 extra points. If you’re quick enough to make another matching right after, you’ll get 200 extra points. When you reach 1000 points, you will be awarded 1000 extra points for every successful QUICK match that you make.

Be warned: if you wait too long and don’t make a successful match, you’ll lose the Speed score multiplier and you’ll have to play quickly to rebuild it.

2. Get those Bonus Multipliers:

Bejeweled Blitz also adds the Multiplier feature that adds a multiplier gem to the game-board if you manage to cascade 4 gem matching in a row. For your first successful cascade, you’ll get a 2x multiplier that doubles the amount of points you gain after you clear the multiplier off the board. The next successful cascade will get you a 3x multiplier and so on. These multipliers are critical for accumulating a high score in one minute.

From observation, if the multiplier is near the top of the game-board and there are no similar gems near it to eliminate it from the board, try the following. Removes gems near the multiplier and the new gems that fall down onto the game-board (more often than not) will yield a gem or two that will help you eliminate the multiplier.

Also, if you have a power gem on the screen near the multiplier, just blow it up. That will save you having to match the multiplier with gems of the same color if none are available.

3. Turn the Sound Off:
The sound effects that play when you’re only left with a few seconds of time can easily break your concentration. I usually play with the sound off and don’t worry about the audio time warnings at the end of the round.

4. Don’t Look at Your Score:

This only distracts you when you’re playing. You’ll know your score after the minute passes, so concentrate on matching gems.

5. Have Fun:

Why overthink it? I just did that for you. Enjoy your Bejeweled Blitz experience !

As far as handheld gaming devices goes, I think that the PSP fits the mould of what I was looking for: a robust handheld that has a solid library of games that take advantage of the system.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Puzzle Quest and Tekken are but a few titles that make the system worth purchasing. But some titles (and this is VERY subjective) which should be Grade A titles are just parading as Grade A titles.

I say this because I am currently playing Crisis Core and the experience is bitter sweet. Crisis Core is remarkably stunning visually and the audio is not far behind. From start to finish, the game seems to be worth the money I paid for it. It’s nice to see the game compared to Final Fantasy 7 and realizing how much more pretty Crisis Core is.

Then you compare game-play (which I believe to be the most important part of any game !!!) and you’re left with a very shallow gaming experience. I keep pressing ‘X’ to progress through the game. And it has not failed me yet. Crisis Core feels more like an interactive story than it does a Square-Enix game.

Does anyone remember "Bouncer" on the PS2? It was a side-scrolling fighting game that showed off what early PS2 games could do on the system. It was a nice but short and shallow gaming experience. I feel the same way about Crisis Core. It shows off what the PSP is capable of but there isn’t much more.

Why all of this blasting of such a decently reviewed game? I played one of the side-missions yesterday and the objective was to kill 1000 shinra soldiers. This mission took me about 3 hours to complete and all I did was press ‘X’. All of my attributes, Health, MP and AP were on ‘break’ (unlimited) and all I had to do was press ‘X’ to finish the mission. I had no opportunity to die during the mission. It became a boring quest of pressing one button just to finish it.

In addition, the DMW (Crisis Core’s roulette system that enables special attacks, summons etc) was no help. With 1000 soldiers killed, the DMW did not initiate one summons. You’d think that the DMW system would some how assess what you’re trying to accomplish and help you out (since you cannot initiate a summons yourself) but it did not. And to add insult to injury, after killing all 1000 enemies, I was rewarded with a Phoenix Down.

So I continue to rant but I’m going back to playing the game. Like I said, it’s bitter sweet: I need to finish what I started, I need to finish this game. But all in all, I really dislike Crisis Core’s:
- DMW system: The player has no control over it so there is no strategy to how you play. Just attack and hope for the best.
- DMW effect animations: Even after you kill an enemy, the game may still play AND can only press ‘X’ to skip summons animations, nothing else.

I may change my mind later on but currently, Crisis Core is the PSP’s equivalent of "Bouncer".

I’ve been enjoying the mobile gaming that my N82 has been offering and I’ll be reviewing the following N-Gage titles very soon: EA Sports FIFA 08, Brain Challenge, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and Space Impact Kappa Base.

Although these games have been reviewed elsewhere in the blogosphere, my perspective will be different in 2 aspects:
1. My reviews will analyze the game’s based on the Design, Play, Experience framework (that I have encountered in my studies in Serious Game Design)
2. My reviews will be based on actually playing the games on a Nokia N82.