Bejeweled Stars vs Victoria
Bejeweled Stars
Bejeweled Stars offers a fun new twist to the usual basic match-3 gameplay of older Bejeweled games. It adds in exciting power-ups, special gems, cute collectibles, and more, giving its gameplay that extra flair, and its players something to strive towards. The gameplay is quite varied and engaging since there are several new game mechanics introduced, such as the constellation-based rewards system and a Power Lab which allows you to craft your own power-ups using Skygems you collect from playing matches. The game also has a pretty hilarious tune which is played at the end of every level in addition to the brilliant visuals.Bejeweled Stars may be a match-3 puzzle game on a mobile platform that’s practically saturated with games of the similar genre, but this game definitely made a massive effort in standing out… and I like to think that it managed to do so. That being said, if you enjoy a fun and unique puzzle-based match-3 game, you’ll definitely want to play this game!
Victoria
Victoria is a horror-themed match-3 adventure game that begins with a tragic story. The protagonist in this game, Victoria Miller, lost her husband and two children in an incident involving an aggressive poltergeist. Driven by her bitter need for revenge, she decided to pick up the ancient art of hunting supernatural beings and track the poltergeist across the United States in hopes of slaying it.At its core, Victoria is a pretty standard match-3 puzzle game where you’ll need to make matches of 3 or more in order to remove the items from the playing area. Most levels require you to clear away blue tiles by matching over them but sometimes, you may be asked to make specific matches in order to use the many weapons that will eventually be available to you against the supernatural creature you’ll be fighting. However, what allows this game to stand out from the usual match-3 games out there is the creepy atmosphere it provides and the occasional jump scares that's intended to give you a solid jolt from time to time.
Overall, when it comes to immersion, Victoria hits the nail on the head. However, despite the supernatural-fighting bits, the gameplay in this game can be rather simplistic, and after some time, rather mundane. That said, considering that true horror-themed match-3 games can be pretty rare, Victoria might just fit snugly into the gaming niche it is obviously designed for.