PopCap has released Bejeweled specially designed for the iPhone.

For an iPhone web site game, they did a very good job. Unfortunately it has many limitations, but they are all based in the way the iPhone deals with third-party games.

The game only plays in the portrait mode. If the iPhone is switched to landscape half the board is off the screen. The game plays by touching one of the jewels you want to move and then the one you want to swap it with. Since it’s a web application there is no timer on the game. It also seems like you should be able to drag the jewels, but the iPhone recognizes drags as trying to move the web page. It also runs slowly; this is a factor again of it running through the Internet.

Otherwise, Bejeweled for the iPhone plays just as good as any other implementation of bejeweled–giving the player more points for combos or for getting four or more in a row. When the bonus bar at the bottom fills it will remove jewels for you as a bonus, giving points for each. This also mixes up the board opening up new matches.

If you like Bejeweled, this is a good adaptation to the iPhone. So I give it a 7.5 out of 10. It’s well done. The game would be better if Apple lets PopCap write the game directly for the iPhone. Since the game is available for free from their site check it out.

Note: You can only find the game via the iPhone’s Safari browser — PopCap’s website can tell if you’re coming from that browser, and in that case the option for the free Bejeweled for iPhone appears. Special thanks to Garth Chouteau over there at PopCap for the info.

About The Author

Bradley Ouellette is a Blast staff writer who's been with us since the bitter beginnings when we were an attic and basement operation on Mission Hill.

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