This review is for the game, 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, a game for the Nintendo DS developed by Hot Lava Games and published by MumboJumbo Software. The game is essentially a puzzle game where you have to match up similar objects to progress through the game.
The game is based on Bejeweled, a popular game where you have to match up three or more runes to be able to progress through the game. The title of the game is based on the seven different levels you work through, ie, the great pyramids, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus, Mausolus Mausoleum, the Lighthouse of Alexandra, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Really the game doesn’t change as you play it, you are faced just with differently design boards, and some additional features where you can blast away some of the runes in different ways such as the fireball and lightning features. If you want a game that you can play for a few minutes at a time, this would fit the bill, but I soon tired of playing the game for more than a few levels.
You can choose between playing the game in three different modes, the story mode which is where you work through the seven levels, the free play mode where you can play any levels which you have unlocked, and the rune quest mode, which is really a slight variation where you have to get rid of some runes first and meet some more precise targets.
In terms of an original concept, this game has none. It’s based on other games and adds very little in terms of variety of depth, simply changing the storyline and graphics to make a new story. The graphics are sufficient in the game, being quite bright and arcade like, although the sound isn’t really particularly creative.
I’m not a very good games player and I often stop playing a game because it’s too difficult for me to finish. However, this game is quite easy to finish and a few hours of playing the game should be sufficient for most games players to be able to finish the game. This does definitely limit the longevity of the game, as I had little interest in playing through the game again after completing it.
There are absolutely no multi-player features on this game, which is quite unusual for a DS game. There’s no reason why a multi-player feature couldn’t have been added, so its omission is disappointing.
The game currently retails for 15.95 pounds on Amazon if you want a new copy, but can be found slightly cheaper on sites such as eBay and Amazon if you are happy with a second hand copy. The game is rated 3+, so is suitable for children of nearly all ages.
Overall, I enjoyed this game, but it did have the feel of the sort of games which can be played on-line for free, which did make the purchase price seem a little expensive. But there is lots of game play, so the game isn’t necessarily poor value for money, but for me, it was just average. Worth a look if you like this sort of puzzle games, but with an update planned for mid 2009 by the publishers, it might be worth waiting to take a look at that instead.
(also on dooyoo under same name)
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Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Jul 2nd, 2009
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