Back in my high school days I chatted on MSN on late nights when I really should have been catching multiple Z’s in my bed. One of the things that really helped me procrastinate and waste time was a little game called Bejeweled that I could somehow play over Messenger with my pals. I’ve since been a fan of the Bejeweled gameplay and have been keen to try out any clones it may have spawned over the years. 

Little did I know that this little gem (get it, diamonds?! hah!) from Resco would drop onto my PDA someday. Resco Diamonds continues the spirit of Bejeweled’s jewel blasting, but with the company’s own twist on the formula. I already own a few resco titles, like Resco Explorer and Photo Viewer, but I’ve never tried any of their games until now.

I know they say Diamonds are forever — but is Resco’s a keeper? Find out after the thump!

(haha, I didn’t say jump)

Installation

Just hit up the download page and get the .exe, run it, and you’re good to go. There’s no .cab file for mobile installation, unfortunately. The demo version lasts for 10 minutes of gameplay, not counting time in the menu.

Diamonds aren’t forever

Whereas real world situations would have people stockpile Diamonds, this is the last thing you’d want to do in Resco’s logic game. Although there are four different game modes, each of them share the same basic goal: nuke as many gorgeous diamonds as you can!

You accomplish this task by shifting similarly shaped (and coloured) diamonds until you have at least three of them in a row. Diamonds can be switched with gems above, below, or on either side. Once that happens the diamonds will disappear in a glorious explosion, and more diamonds will fall in from the top of the screen to take their place. There are four basic modes to play with:

• Action Lines
• Action Shapes

Action games have a time limit and levels. The higher your score, the higher your level will be. You can increase the amount of time you have by scoring points. Once you run out of time, it’s game over.

• Endless Lines
• Endless Shapes

Endless games removes the time limit, but keeps the level concept. Endless games, suffice it to say, can go on for a while. I’m not even sure you can lose them.

The difference between the words "lines" and "shapes" in this case is the different rule set in each game mode. In "lines" only the three or more diamonds in a line will score you points (and shatter the diamonds). The "shapes", on the other hand, allow you to shatter diamonds just by having any three gems connected in any direction but a diagonal. So as long as you have at least three of the same gems connected in any of the four basic directions (up, down, left, right), you’ll get points. Needless to say, "shapes" is a lot easier to score with than "lines", and it’s a lot of fun to see you chain up huge combos of shapes, just because they occur a lot more often than lines.

What’s all this talk of "at least three"?

You might have noticed I keep talking about the number three — but what about when you chain four or five gems together? Great things, let me tell you

Four similar diamonds in a row nets you a special, explosive diamond of that colour. When you set this diamond off with a shape or a line it will explode, destroying all gems within a one-unit radius. Any gem above immediately around the exploding one will also disappear, netting you points. The best part is when you have one exploding gem hit another and then another…I sometimes end up with chain reactions that clear up half my screen!

Now, as great as exploding gems are, super crystals are even better. If you put five diamonds together you’ll end up with a glowing orb that looks a lot like a pearl. If you exchange this orb with any adjacent gem, all the gems of that kind will instantly be destroyed in a flashy electric storm. Not only does this gem score you a decent sum of points, but it also makes it easier for you to line up bigger combos.

Gameplay

Resco Diamonds is a real blast to play in short bits. It’s really addicting just racking up combos and seeing your score shoot up. I’ve found myself stuck to my PDA for over 20 minutes just clicking away at these little diamonds. I’ve had the game for a few weeks now, and the fun factor still hasn’t worn off. I am a little bias though, as I do enjoy the Bejeweled-style gameplay already, and so this game is right down my alley. One thing I really enjoy about the product is the auto-save feature, allowing me to quit the game any time I want to, but return to it later by just loading it up again. The game loads up in the exact state you left it in, and it has one saved slot for each of the game types. This means you can load up any one of the game modes you may not have finished from a previous gaming session.

Fantastic button or touch controls

Another great innovation on the Bejeweled control scheme is the four types of controls you have in Diamonds:

1. The D-Pad: just click on a jewel, then click in any direction to swap with a gem that’s there.
2. Tap in between: tap between two jewels with your stylus or finger and they’ll switch places.
3. Tap on two: this is the more standard control scheme. Tap on one gem, then on another to have them switch.
4. Tap and drag: Exactly like it sounds. Tap and hold on a gem, then drag in the direction of the gem you want to swap it with.

All in all, my favourite was probably tap in between. The tap on two was less efficient, and the tap and drag sometimes cost me my super crystals (the ones that destroy all gems of a certain colour) because the game swapped my crystals in the wrong direction (it wasn’t my fault!). This bug didn’t pop up too often though.

Graphics and Sound

I’m quite happy with the quality in the sound and graphics department. The animations are all fast and slick, and I never experienced any major slowdowns on my TyTN, unless I had music (from an mp3 program) playing in the background. The game doesn’t have any changing backgrounds like Bejeweled does, but that really doesn’t matter to me, as you spend your time looking at the gems, not what’s behind them. 

The menu music is decent enough, but it’s the crisp in-game sound that really tops off the whole experience. Each gem type (normal, explosive, and super crystal) has its own sound when it explodes. The game wouldn’t be the same without these audio cues, and they remain distinct without getting on your nerves (you’ll hear them a lot as you rack up the points). Resco also included the ability to control sound or music volume, should you find anything too loud or too soft.

Final Comments

I’ve really enjoyed my time with Resco Diamonds, and it still makes a great, quick game when I’m on the subway or waiting for a class to start. I love how it’s so easy to get into the flow of things, and that I can save and quit in one simple step (just click the exit button on the lower right).

The only complaint I really have is the difficulty level. I would like to have the game be a bit harder as I go along on the endless and action modes, but since I play for such short stints, it isn’t such a large issue.

It doesn’t stop me from highly recommending this game to most anybody who is looking for some entertainment on their Windows Mobile device.

Important Info

Availability: Resco, JAMM Store

Price: $14.95

Screen Support: VGA resolution (640×480), QVGA resolution (320×240), Square (240×240)

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