If you liked Cydonia
and you’re looking for the next great game from Dreamcatcher,
you won’t find it in Jewels II. In fact, Jewels II isn’t
even an adventure game; it’s a collection of “puzzles.”
More importantly, these aren’t puzzles in the adventure game sense,
but brainteasers, or what are sometimes referred to as twaddleware.
So, if it isn’t an adventure game, why is JA reviewing it? Because
Dreamcatcher is presenting it as if it is. Therefore, I’ll review
it as if it is.

The Plot: You are
an archeologist who is helping uncover the mysteries of a recent excavation
of the pre-Sumerian civilization. It’s your job to collect the Gems
of Darkness and collect the treasure of Kavi. At least that’s my best
guess as to what the plot is. Let’s try this: the game consists of
24 caverns, each with a tactile puzzle. When you solve a puzzle, you
get a jewel, which is automatically added to your jewel chest. After
you collect all 24 jewels, you can then face the final challenge:
another puzzle. The plot is like taking a trip down interstate to
nowhere in particular just so you can stop at 24 rest areas along
the way. A trip? Yes. An adventure? No. The plot receives a D.

The Graphics: The
graphics are nice, but the surroundings of the cave and each room
have nothing to do with the puzzles. I experienced problems with the
graphic resolution on my PC. The graphics receive a C.

Sound, Music, and Voice
Acting: When you move the many, many, many levers you encounter,
they make sounds. There is music, too. Well, what am I suppose to
say about the sound and music? It doesn’t matter how good they are.
It simply doesn’t matter. You might as well turn down the sound on
your PC and put your favorite music on while you fiddle with these
puzzles.

There is one character
in the game. The leader of the archeology project, Mr. … uh …
Mr. …? I can’t remember his name. He briefs you about your mission
at the beginning of the game. If you’re having trouble with a puzzle,
you can go back to see if he has any words of advice. He sounds as
if he is bored with the whole project, too. The sound, music, and
voice acting all receive a C-.

The Puzzles: Tedious.
What else can I say? One of the puzzles takes 285 moves to solve!
Count ’em: two hundred eighty-five! As to why someone would
want to plow through these brainteasers just to get jewels is beyond
me. I have better things to do, like play adventure games. You can
choose to have the puzzles presented in easy, medium, or difficult
mode. But again, it’s still just a meaningless series of twaddleware.
Good grief, some of the puzzles are repeats from Jewels I! The
puzzles get a D.

All work and no play. Final
Grade: D

Note to readers: This
is my first negative review. I don’t like giving negative reviews
because I would rather companies produce average adventure games than
not produce any at all. However, Jewels II is simply not an
adventure game. Trust me on this one.

Note to DreamCatcher:
Please promote more games like Cydonia and forget the Jewels
series.

System
Requirements:

PC:
Windows 95 or 3.1
Pentium
16 MB RAM
16 MB free on hard disk
16-bit color
2X CD-ROM drive
8-bit Soundblaster or 100% compatible

Macintosh:
System 7.5
68040 CPU
16 MB RAM
16 MB hard drive space
Thousands of of colors
2X CD ROM drive