Jewels of the Ages

Do you know what's even better than sitting back, relaxing and, matching three? Sitting back, relaxing, and matching three...twice.

This is the experience that Jewels of the Ages strives for, as it lays out two separate match-three games for you to play through.

While Jewels is a satisfying enough puzzler, with responsive controls and addictive action, it tries too hard to mask the fact that the gameplay isn't particularly varied at all.

Elements like levelling up and going on epic journeys are in place to distract you from the realisation that you're technically doing the same thing over and over again.

Jewels of the Ages is divided into two separate games - Jewels of Olympus and Jewels of Ancient Pharaoh's - both of which offer similar experiences, albeit in different settings.

Olympus has you flying around on a pegasus, matching three gems to kill beasts and solve puzzles, while Ancient Pharoah's takes place in Egypt.

The match-three action is exactly as you'd expect. You're given a certain type of object you need to put into lines on a grid, and you need to keep matching those particular pieces in rows and columns of three.

The way the jewels explode is gratifying, and there's plenty of combo and chain action going on all the time. The game focuses on randomly chosen matches and explosions, rather than on any careful long-term selection of pieces.

To its credit, this 'philosophy' works well, and makes the game feel a lot more action-packed than it actually is.

Unfortunately, Jewels of the Ages makes the mistake of attempting to disguise its repetitive nature through banal storylines.

"Match 30 pegasus wings to ride through the sky!" it says. "Match 40 keys to unlock the door!" it exclaims. It doesn't matter what you're matching - the mechanic remains the same with no clever change-ups or subtle differences.

If you love your match-three games, Jewels of the Ages is bound to see you through a few commutes.

Anyone else, however, will feel like they're being a little bit conned into paying good money for gameplay you can quite easily find in a free Flash game.