Jewel Match Solitaire Summertime

the reskin factory strikes again. the campaign is the same as all the others before, same power-ups, same achievements (some with mismatching icons and descriptions, that's how lazy they are), same unresponsive ui, same everything, but they once again replaced the backgrounds. at least their artists are doing something, and thankfully it's not more underwater nonsense for the billionth time. can't believe there are FIVE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ atlantis solitaires now. so actually even their artists are just phoning it in. [b]the one thing they changed only made things worse: power-ups need charging now.[/b] as if tedium wasn't the name of the game before, when a level restart reset power-ups too. nope, match like crazy after using one and keep hoping it'll be charged by the time it's needed again, most likely not during the next replay or level. can't even just flip through a deal to get it over with because only matching counts. the only consolation is lightning still removes a card even if it's frozen, but I'm sure they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ this up as well in a later iteration, or it's gonna happen at some point. then there's the usual subpar mahjong that has no business in a solitaire anyway, with lazy identical thumbnails instead of a layout preview. plus [b]incredibly tedious supersize levels with hundreds of cards[/b] taking forever to clear. and so-called [b]challenge levels that aren't challenging, just an exercise in frustration[/b]. keep retrying a billion times until the goals can happen, 3 reds in a row or whatever. there are also gazebos on the campaign map, solve 3 'quests' to unlock more decorative crap to fill the already busy screen. and guess what those quests are? the same levels from other bonus games. how creative. win klondike. win one of the 60 challenge levels. win one of the 60 supersize ones. and of course doing so from level select doesn't count here, nor vice versa. the game is so lazily done, all the level select screens simply say 'bonus games' instead of mahjong, supersize, etc. at least it's not a collector's edition, so the menu is a tolerable level of bad instead of a huge mess, except [b]stop asking me if I want to start a new game every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time I click play because you're too lazy to add a separate continue button[/b]. and while previous entries saved progress on exit, here [b]I got a 'level progress will be lost' message at some point[/b] when I wanted to quit. regular levels still save quietly but supersize ones, where you'd most likely want to take a break, don't. no warning there either, so you'd expect them to work like regular stages but they don't. difficulty is still all over the place, not only because of rng but due to bad level design. [b]the final third(!) of the campaign is so full of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mechanics[/b] (levels 168 and 195 can especially ♥♥♥♥ off), it'll take many attempts to perfect a single one. money seems to be harder to come by too, making barely noticable upgrades to nerfed but overpriced power-ups an even bigger chore, or simply impossible without extensive grinding. the only redeeming feature is the less common solitaire variants section, but like every single thing in this series, they have to be unlocked by doing other stuff you don't necessarily want to. plus the asking price only for a measly 12 variants would be ridiculous. they are [b]eight colors, scorpion 2 suit, siegecraft, karnatah, flip flop, senate, portuguese solitaire, king's tin, lady maria, spiderette cells, behemoth, trails[/b]. I dropped these clowns a long time ago but had this last purchased one unplayed in my library, figured might as well. solitaire is solitaire but I skipped a lot of it and now I'm done for good. take my advice, do the same and support developers that deserve it because they don't just release a lazy carbon copy of quantity over quality every few months, half the time not even changing the theme from atlantis. pick up [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1709180]solitaire expeditions[/url], the best solitaire collection on steam, for about the same price and enjoy 200 variants and a lot of quality of life and a lot less ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from one of the most responsive and dedicated devs around. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1709180/Solitaire_Expeditions/

They changed the way the power-ups work, so now they must be charged -- it's a little annoying. Otherwise, it's the same mechanics as other games in the series. They also added "supersize" levels and mahjong to the extras (along with the variants of solitaire). So there's quite a lot for you to do, but you don't have to solve every extra level to get all the achievements.

Well it took over 100 hrs to get all the achievements but I finally did it! 10/10 good value for your buck!

Solitarie, Mahjong, challenge levels, quests, etc etc. Plenty of content for a game with playing cards. Thoroughly enjoy this

Worst game of the series, The power ups are nerfed to death. You have to replay most levels 3-5 times to perfect them. Most of the times you get f*cked by RNG. I was frustrated with other games of the series but this one gets the cake. Avoid.

Nice Solitaire game.

Another good game from these guys. There are some major differences in how the bonuses work - in this game the bonuses recharge rather than having a certain number per level. Took 27hrs to get all the achievements. There are many bonus games, as well as mahjong and "supersize" levels. The supersize levels play exactly the same as regular levels, but with far more cards, and more chances to make large chains. I was frequently getting chains of over 40 cards in the supersize levels. Very satisfying.

Another very pretty game by Suricate. If you've played their games you know how to play this. I'm very good at Solitaire, so I was quite surprised to start encountering levels at about 146 or 147 where it was literally sitting and going through the deck. No ability to really play the game due to the card layouts. This made the game not as fun or rewarding to play. I'm not a fan of the power ups having to charge up. If buying the remove cards power ups, I'm not sure what the second purchase does since you can still only use one at a time, then wait for it to charge up again. Overall, this is not one of my favorites from this developer's Solitaire games. The castle/villa building is still fun, and the scenery is gorgeous but gameplay is a little tedious in this one. If you love Solitaire, you'll probably want to try it and have it in your collection, so I'm giving it a thumbs up. Honestly I wouldn't buy it again though. This coming from someone who has most of this developer's Solitaire games in her library.

One problem with the game is that 2 cards, at times, will release instead of one. I end up using all my undo's because the first of the two cards released is one that played. Otherwise it is a pleasant time killing game.

This is the ninth Jewel Match Solitaire game that I have played and it has my favorite BGM and castles of the series. All the solitaire games have a chill vibe to them on Relaxed mode, but this one's music was especially laid back. There are plenty of bonus games for building up gold for shop purchases and the additional solitaire games are a good selection. I was able to get all the achievements before finishing the last castle, but I also spent time playing the bonus games for gold. I especially enjoyed the challenge levels and having to think differently about where to use a powerup or a wild card. This one in particular felt better balanced with a smoother difficulty curve than L'Amour (jumped straight from finishing that one to starting this one). I recommend this one to fans of the series, but also to folks new to it. If you enjoy solitaire games with bells and whistles, then this game (and series) is for you!