Jewels of the Wild West – Review

From G5 Entertainment, the studio behind the sensational hit Hidden City, comes a new Western-themed Match 3 frenzy Jewels of the Wild West. Travel back in time to a ransacked frontier town of the Old West and restore it back to its former glory.

If you are familiar with G5’s recent hits Jewels of Rome and Jewels of the Mahjong, then this new spin-off should feel familiar to you since it essentially based on the exact game mechanics, but with a Wild West theme. Although the game introduces plenty of new characters and a cheeky storyline (especially for fans of classic Western tales), Jewels of the Wild West feels extremely redundant and leaves a lot to be desired.

The main limited-moves Match 3 gameplay is uninspired at best and brings absolutely nothing new to this tried-and-true genre that has flooded the casual games market as of late. While objectives do vary level to level, none of them is imaginative and exciting as they have already been overutilized by other Match 3 games that came before. On a positive note, each level of Jewels of the Wild West offers six different types of appropriately-themed boosters, which can be super helpful if used strategically.

Unlike some other free-to-play Match 3 games such as the likes of Gardenscapes and Homescapes that progresses level by level, Jewels of the Wild West allows you to explore multiple levels simultaneously. Once in a while, you will unlock a new scene with its own set of Match 3 levels. All these scenes are barely different in terms of theme and mechanics, but at least you can switch up and jump between scenes in case you are stuck at any particular level. However, the problem with Jewels of the Wild West is that most of its levels are unreasonably challenging – no matter which scene you want to explore. Easy, relaxing levels are few and far between and the challenging ones are often frustrating. It is obvious that the game wants to pressure its players into purchasing expensive boosters with crystals, which are also difficult to come by without costing real dollars.

Apart from the Match 3 gameplay, Jewels of the Wild West is also heavy on collections hunting. By completing each level, you have a chance of finding collectible items. These items help with advancing the storyline and can be combined into rarities, which in turn can be combined into special talismans with distinguished powers. This part of the game can be fun, but again, can be painfully slow given the challenging nature of the Match 3 levels. All that being said, one aspect of Jewels of the Wild West that is undeniably great is its presentation. The hand-drawn scenes are stunning, the special effects are minimal yet well-utilized, and the upbeat background music is catchy and infectious.

Jewels of the Wild West fails to experiment outside its comfort zones, resulting in a derivative, overly-challenging Match 3 game for mobile.