GemJam Fever

Try saying 'Gem Jam' really quickly, over and over again. Or Mish Mash Mosh, or Boo Hee Woo. Because GemJam Fever is one of those titles that demands a bit of attention, with a "look at me, or else" attitude.

By taking a game that offers very little in terms of originality, the developers have been forced to add a new angle – some swagger, if you will – in an attempt at having it be noticed by us, the pocket gaming public. In GemJam Fever's case, this comes in the form of a pair of strange characters and a ridiculous storyline.

The main star of the show is a girl called Ayida, who, guided by a voodoo doll called Hunsi, takes on a turnip-shaped scarecrow called Bokor. While these two squabble about who's the better sorcerer, there's a small matter of an actual game going on, involving falling gems that you need to figure out what to do with. The gems drop in columns of three, all different colours, which need to be re-ordered and rotated in an effort to fit with the colours at the bottom. Get three or more gems of the same colour in a row in any direction and they'll disappear, and by clearing the screen you'll progress onto the next level.

There are three game modes in GemJam Fever, Story, Fever and Classic, which add slightly different slants on what is, essentially, an indifferent game. There isn't much setting the three apart, as all three amount to the same thing and share the same blessings and curses. The presentation is good, with bright, colourful graphics, and there's a pleasant jungle vibe to the music and sounds. The main problem with GemJam is the length of each level. It's like watching paint dry with an old man who no longer has any war stories to tell, and so has moved on to describing his childhood. Such is the lack of urgency you'll face here, accompanied by the feeling that even as you're completing the levels, you're not really going anywhere. The game isn't unpleasant, it just becomes monotonous.

There's no way that GemJam Fever could be described as anything other than an old-fashioned game dragged grudgingly into the 21st century. The idea and application is ripped out of the 1980s, just like Celebrity Big Brother's Pete Burns. Needless to say, GemJam Fever has faired better than the aging glam rocker, and it certainly won't scare smaller children.

On balance, GemJam Fever is a good-looking game with some decent gameplay. It's just let down by the lack of focus and incentives for progressing.