Jewel Quest II 3D

If you're not familiar with Jewel Quest's heritage, then you might or might not be interested to hear that its publisher describes the game as nothing less than a "phenomenon", the latest incarnation of which is Jewel Quest II 3D.

The original Jewel Quest was a hugely popular web game, first given the mobile treatment by I-play back in July 2005 and declared by Jamster at the time the "Best Mobile Game" of that year.

Fast forward nearly three years and luckily for me I knew none of this when I first started battling with this puzzler on the bus to work last week. Otherwise I might well have initially wondered what the fuss was all about.

The game promises "all-new addictive puzzle fun in 3D" and the player is charged with following the adventures of some bloke called Rupert, who is off exploring Africa in search of jewels and his long lost love. A nice description and an intriguing-sounding backstory, neither of which seemed to relate to the actual game that unfolds in your palms.

First, it's not 3D. Sorry to be picky, but if anything Jewel Quest II 3D could, at a real push, be described as '2.5D'. The closest it gets to 3D is in the (annoying) animated cut-scenes and in the scene-setting Indiana Jones-style fonts that appear on the title screen.

Second, you don't really get to explore Africa (in whatever dimension) or really give two hoots about your long lost love. After less than three games, I guarantee you'll be skipping all cut-scenes and references to the storyline as you hurriedly move through the menu screens to get into the meat and potatoes of the actual game.

I also guarantee you will be hooked, because, all initial gripes aside, what Jewel Quest II 3D actually turns out to be is a devilishly addictive, no-nonsense puzzle game.

It's hard to say much about the gameplay that makes it sound particularly appealing. Players view a grid that contains a range of different coloured jewels. Your job is to drag said jewels to their neighbouring squares, attempting to line up three relics of the same colour, after which the squares magically turn gold.

If you master the Midas touch, you will soon turn the entire grid gold and have completed the level. When you score a 'three-in-a-row' you experience a strange little pang of pleasure, which intensifies if you manage to set off a rather cool chain reaction with the surrounding relics.

What's slightly baffling – and the basis of the game's anxiety-driven genius gameplay – is that immediately following one of these 'golden showers', a new row of different coloured relics appear.

You are then immediately required to scan the entire grid in order to locate your next possible three-in-a-row. You need to quickly and strategically ensure you make the right choices in order to turn the entire grid gold before the timer runs out. (On that note, another minor gripe, but a countdown timer on the screen might well have improved things here.)

Control-wise, Jewel Quest II 3D's near-faultless, one-thumb approach takes around seven to eight seconds to fully master.

And that's it, really. Aside from the fact that ten days later I'm still, weirdly, looking forward to my usually hellish morning commute to squeeze in another quick half an hour on this unremarkable-sounding puzzler. Sure, whether owners of the standard Jewel Quest II will find enough incentive here to buy what is effectively the same game again is questionable (our guess is they won't) but everyone else can go ahead safe in the knowledge that this is as good as the hype surrounding it suggests.