Review: Diamond Twister

[EvilSpaghetti]

Diamond Twister
Mobile Game Review

Title: Diamond Twister
Developer: Gameloft
Publisher: Gameloft
Release Date: June 2008
Format: J2ME
Game Features: A real adventure story, 8 game modes, 8 glamorous environments
Reviewed on:Nokia 5200 & 5300

diamond title.jpg

Summary

Diamonds are ones desire. And for most they’re just too expensive. Then why not just steal them? Probably because it’s illegal… well now you can in Gameloft’s newest puzzle adventure game, play as an criminal ‘mastermind’ and get set to travel around the world!

Review

This week we’ve been looking at Gameloft’s Diamond Twister, in an attempt to see how it fairs against other games of the same format. The basic model from all the previous games of the genre is swap some gems here and collect the points. Create some combos that help you rack up the points with extra speed. But Diamond Twister is different; it has the extra game modes that are progressively unlocked through story mode. One mode takes obvious inspiration from Jewel Quest and you’ll find yourself having to make a suitable swap over each square in the grid. Other modes include finding a hidden item on the board or competing against the clock.
Ok so the graphics they aren't bad, but for a game of this size they’re pretty impressive. The colours are bold and well… standard. The sound isn’t that great but they’ll do. But the thing that most impresses me about this game is of the number of levels and the hours of gameplay, trust me will go back and start the game again, just so you can try and beat your score. As with most games of this format there’s an anti climax when everything is complete, but with Diamond Twister, that won't be happening for quite a few hours.
There is a story to this game, a story that centres around a jewel thief, you will find yourself travailing to elegant locations and finding yourself trying to attain, highly sort after gems. There is no cloak and dagger stuff since this is just a puzzle game, there are eight boards per location to gain the item. As you would guess, to pass each level simply requires matching enough gems to score the amount of cash which is set, ok so the amount at the start is easy enough to reach, the number will increase as new locations are visited. Creating chains and combinations of four or more gems will earn you rewards, special Help gems if you like that provides a boost when you need it, which trust me you will in the later levels where the money count gets quite high. Some of the gems explode in diverse ways, others that will change gem type, and others that are specific in what gems are removed. But while these may help, the boards also get harder as new patterns are constantly presented with blocks that prevent swapping or corners that are tough to get to. As the locations are completed, you will unlock eight additional other game types in Challenge mode that use the same point and click mechanics to swap gems, but vary in purpose. One of the first modes to be unlocked is 'Endless' where naturally, the game never ends. However, if you exit to play another game mode, all progress is lost, Magic Stones, will have you matching gems and flipping tiles to unearth a hidden jewel. Gem Collector will challenge you to match and clear a set amount and type of gem. Finally in ‘Puzzle’ you must abolish all of the pieces from the board in the least moves possible. Each mode has roughly 15 levels, which you can add to the 60 or even more levels from story mode and you are left with a considerable game that covers almost every characteristic of previous block matching games. The game itself is very addictive and I found myself playing this almost non-stop until I had almost everything completed. The first few levels of each section are fairly easy but some of the later stuff does stretch the reactions as you are pushed against an increasingly tough time limit... Overall, story mode offers a lot of fun, but this fun can be continued outside of story mode.

Outlaws thoughts on the game;
Well this is for me at least the best arcade game ever, I like the presentation of the game, the story is enough to make you finish the game, the graphics and gameplay are awesome ,the replay value is great, the difficulty levels in the story mode are quite random, audio ,with the sound on the frame are getting low and spoils the gameplay, another thing I liked at this game was that game loft have introduced a lot of mini games called challenge mode, the most I liked endless mode where you can play as you want without a time limit (I have in endless mode a record of 265,445),besides that wining in the challenge will give you rewards like boats cars etc and precious and rare gems.
For me this is one of the best games from Gameloft.

Conclusion

In conclusion… for a puzzle game of its kind, Diamond Twister features some impressive graphics and decent sound to go along with a prolonged and addictive gaming encounter. There are some nice differences in the play types and yes, it’s still a gem swapping game, but anyone who enjoys this type will certainly be glad they played it.

Screenshots

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Graphics: 9/10
Very impressive

Sound: 7/10
Could be better

Game play:9/10
Fun, addictive.

Story: 7/10
It keeps you playing

Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10

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[Slash]

nice...

[hybrid1dx3]

diamond twister graphic are really veri veri good and overall is a nice game

[apoteka]

i would say graphics 10! overall, 9.5

[EvilSpaghetti]

thanks for the feedback

[t-mac2008]

what story could this game have
in it you just spin diamonds
i don't get it

[EvilSpaghetti]

well if you read the review properly you would see what the story is...

[inferno-was-here]

well, i like jewel quest from pc....
why i wont like this game..???

[EvilSpaghetti]

Next Review: Racedriver - GRID

[Bjforever80]

totally love this game! This is a must have.