[b]royal gems[/b] started out brilliantly, for a collection of match-3 levels anyway, then quickly turned into a mobile nightmare, and it's not even available on mobile, as far as I know.
it uses [b]chain matching[/b], so pick a gem, connect everything of the same color, then let go. [b]diagonals aren't allowed and right click doesn't cancel the current selection[/b], which is really annoying, but I love that [b]matching tetris shapes creates power-ups[/b]. never seen this before and it was fun at first, but it's really difficult to line things up properly. bombs are created with 2x2 squares, chain bombs with 'Z', lightning with 'I', and an L-shape for chain lightning, but to make one appear, you need to match the same symbol 4 times, then obviously make it part of another chain to trigger it.
there are [b]160 levels[/b] in 8 chapters, only one unlocked at a time and you need every level completed and 35 of 60 stars to access the next chapter. [b]levels are mostly turn-based with a few timed ones[/b], so a relaxed/zen game mode would've been most welcome, even in a properly balanced game, which this isn't.
each level has various tasks, like creating a certain amount of shapes or power-ups, matching gems of a certain color, or reaching the required score. up to 3 stars and 30 purple gems are awarded per level, based on your performance. as long as you complete every task and don't run out of moves or time, it's 3 stars, achieving only some means a smaller reward, and score only matters if it's one of the goals. remaining moves/seconds create extra power-ups at the end of a level for some bonus fireworks and points, but as I said, points don't matter and there's no way to skip said celebration. in fact, [b]when I tried to click through it a few times, it crashed the game[/b] and I had to re-do the level, so don't do that.
purple gems are used to [b]upgrade power-ups and other helpers[/b]. there are 7 of them, each has 5 levels to unlock for 30, 120, 180, 270 and 420 gems respectively. the clock increases the turn/time limit, lightning and chain lightning increase the number of crystals destroyed, the bomb and chain bomb do the same. upgrading the [b]slot machine[/b] lets you activate it with fewer gems and the lucky clover adds a multiplier to completed tasks when it shows up in the slot machine.
the problem is, [b]160 levels provide 4800 gems, which is way less than what you'd need to max everything out[/b], yet you're encouraged to spend them in batches of 5 on the slot machine to unlock a 5th slot. the machine, once charged by matching enough of every gem, will hand out 4 (or 5) random bonuses (extra turns/time, more points, or the clover mentioned above to boost task completion a bit), but [b]the rewards barely do anything[/b]. at some point my clover was level 2 (increases completed tasks by 1.25), got 3 clovers from the slot machine, all went to one task, yet 13/60 stayed at 13/60. surely that's not right.
the 35/60 star requirement doesn't seem too bad at first, 1 star is easy enough, most levels for 2 stars, don't even need any 3-star ones (and we've established you won't have enough gems to upgrade everything anyway), but [b]tasks are beyond ridiculous and go way over the move limit[/b]. sure, necessary power-ups often use the shape you have to create a bunch of anyway, plus there are upgraded power-ups and the oh-so-useless slot machine can be charged multiple times, and of course you can luck into chains with multiple shapes and a bunch of required gem colors, but that's a lot of ifs and maybes.
in fact, when I gave up in chapter 5, I edited my save, unlocked all the levels (nothing new after chapter 1, in case you were wondering) and [b]gave myself enough gems to max out every power-up, which is not possible by playing normally, and it still didn't make much difference[/b]. I don't consider myself a good match-3 player (or a good player, period) and I can accept a game being challenging because creating the desired tetris shapes is really hard, but there's no way anybody will 3-star every level within a reasonable amount of tries.
[b]graphics are really nice, the music is fantastic[/b], the best I've heard since [b]bejeweled[/b], and there are separate volume settings and windowed mode with a fixed size, though the slot machine doesn't shut up even when effects are turned off. and it doesn't help that [b]sometimes text descriptions don't match the actual tasks[/b], it's not possible to match more while another matching animation is in progress, and [b]it can crash mid-level as well[/b].
I have to say, the soundtrack alone was worth the 39 cents I paid (you should only buy any games by 8floor at 90% off), but as a game [b]it's not recommended at all[/b], and they're definitely not gonna rebalance goals or add a relaxed mode, which would easily make it one of the best match-3 games on the market instead of one of the worst.
