Please post your REVIEWS for Jewel Match Solitaire Collector's Edition here.

A thread for your reviews.

Love this game. The sets of cards are beautifully done, and there is a variety of solitaire games to play.

You start with a "one higher or one lower" game, which is the main game. After so-and-so many levels, you get a "bonus" game added, which is a different variety from the "one higher or one lower" game. I now have Klondike and Spider added to my game - there are 12 Bonus games in all. You can play the bonus games any time you want, but the main game will always be the "one higher or one lower" game.

I like the building part of the game, although I don't care for the graphics of the background and the buildings to be added. They look rough and cheap, and don't make me want to build anything.

There are also 24 Trophies to be won (achievements).

I won't buy the CE, which is supposed to have "18 additional Solitaire variants to master". I only like a handful of card games, "one higher or one lower" being my favourite, and don't play many other variations, so it would be a waste of my money to get the CE. But I will get the SE when it's out.

I've been critical of every solitaire game offered by Big Fish because they're all just variations of the one-up, one-down version so I was excited to see that finally (!) a game came along that had other solitaire variations. I was very disappointed to learn that you have to play the same tired old solitaire for a number of levels to "earn" these other games, one by one. Why would I use 2 credits or pay $13.99 for this when I can get excellent solitaire games, offering multiple variations, elsewhere for a lot less?

I won't buy the CE, which is supposed to have "18 additional Solitaire variants to master". I only like a handful of card games, "one higher or one lower" being my favourite, and don't play many other variations, so it would be a waste of my money to get the CE. But I will get the SE when it's out.

Dear Valdy,

Ditto

Yesterday these guys unleashed the awesome Zombie Solitaire game and today they have released the first ever (that I'm aware of) Collector's Edition Solitaire game! Not only is it a great Solitaire game with lots of variations, but the Collector's Edition is actually CE worthy because it gives you 120 extra Bonus levels. All in all Jewel Match Solitaire offers a whopping 320 Solitaire levels!

This is a Higher/Lower Solitaire game, but as you progress, you will unlock awesome solitaire games that can be played anytime, such as Klondike, Spider, Freecell, and Pyramid. There are 24 Trophies to earn, and 5 Castles to build in the main game, even more in the Bonus Section, with the Emeralds you earn. You can choose to play in a Relaxed or Normal mode, the Hard mode is timed for a little more of a challenge.

Some cards contain coins that can be used in the Shop to purchase Power-ups, Wildcards that are number specific, Jokers, Undos, Shuffles etc. Some cards are blocked, requiring you to find tool cards to unlock them, such as Keys for Lock cards, Sickles for Vine cards, Scissor for Ribbon cards, and my favorites, Wax Seals requiring color specific cards to be played consecutively, and suit specific cards, or Frozen cards that require 2 plays to remove them.

This Collector's Edition has 24 Trophies to earn, 10 Music Soundtracks, the Making Of, Bonus Trophies, Wallpapers, 4 extra Deck card styles, Bonus Levels, 3 Extra Castles to build, 120 Extra Bonus Levels, 6 Extra Bonus Solitaire types, Shop Extra Power-ups, and a built in Strategy Guide (huh??)

With all the extra levels the CE gives you, I say this is well worthy and certainly qualifies as a CE version. If you pick this game up during a CE sale, what could be better, enjoy

I haven't bought this game yet, as I would wait for a good CE sale.

I "had" to demo this game right away, because knowing that it was a Jewel Match game, it had to be a top quality game, with lots of attention to detail. And...of course it is. My preferred genre is M3, but a well done solitaire is definitely worth playing. When I saw that one of the bonus games was spider solitaire, I knew that I definitely would want to try it. Many years ago, I was "hooked" on spider solitaire and got very good at it. I haven't played for a long time and had to refresh my memory of the rules. But it didn't take long to remember, and I realized that the first bonus game is the easy version, so I hope the more challenging version is included later on. If not, c'est la vie!

Anyway, even though I really would have been excited if this were a match 3 jewel match, I am liking this game. The only thing is....I hope it becomes more challenging later on, because so far the one up one down solitaire has been too easy to win.

BTW, Valdy, I'm not being critical by any means, but what do you mean by the castle graphics being rough and cheap? Just curious, because I always appreciate reading your opinions.

Well I will say this, at least this 'solitaire' game didn't kick me out before the 5th or 6th level because I didn't finish in the first dealing of the deck. It has a relaxed mode, which I think ALL 'solitaire' games should have. But I wouldn't pay $14.00 for a 'solitaire' game though, so a 'no buy for' me.

Valdy wrote:
The Zombie Solitaire games are by Rokapublish/Rokaplay, which is a German developer, and this "Jewel Match Solitaire" game is by a dev (who is new to me), called Suricate Software.

I think what she meant by "these guys" is referring to Big Fish, rather than Rokapublish/Suricate.

All the Jewel Match Match3 games are Suricate. Suricate has their own splash page for their last few games already ... although it's true you need to go into the credits section to find their logo way back in the past.

And you can tell it's their artwork anywhere they go. Their artwork is simply way above their peers.

Necromage:

You are "spot on"! I thought most players (even non-M3) were aware of the top quality Jewel Match games by Suricate. That's why in my post above I said that I had to try this game out knowing who the devs are. That is also why I asked why Valdy thought the castles appeared "rough and cheap". I guess everyone has their own idea of what good artwork/graphics are. No offense is intended toward Valdy, I just happen to be a little biased, since one of the Jewel Match game designers helped me with a problem I was having with another game (in addition to the fact I love their games)!

I will be buying this game with the sale today. I just hope it gets a little more challenging.

This game is totally addicting! I love it! There is a sale on CE's today, so grab it while you can!!

Love the Jewel Match games - old and new. This one is the best yet.

I have a question about the music. So maybe that is obscure, but it is bugging me. I have recognized a number of tunes from other games. Chronicles of Albion: The Magic Convention (JoinDots, music by Virag Studio); Tales of Lagoona 2: Peril at Poseidon Park (Playacademy, music by Virag Studio); and The Far Kindoms (any of them, Lazy Turtle Games, Shockwave Music). I went through the credits but couldn't find the music credit for this game.

I don't mind that they are apparently borrowing music from themselves. It was just a surprise - and some really nice, relaxing music.

@spencermills: The president of Suricate Software also works for Playcademy Games. As for the music being borrowed otherwise, I think they must be getting their tunes from some stock music freeware type site (much like one can download free stock photos from some sites) if there's no music credit.

I haven't played this although I was quite tempted to yesterday with the huge CE sale, but based upon what I've been hearing so far, the primary game mode is one-up one-down solitaire and it's not particularly challenging. If it were a M3 that would be my cue to not even bother demoing. Will still give this a chance when the SE comes out, but I don't think I want to go through 300+ levels of easy solitaire, as I don't struggle with one-up one-down games in my past experience with them. Sorry Suricate, you know I love your M3s, but I'm taking a miss on this CE.

Bought the game on sale. It is fun. Until you get stuck - don't buy until they get it fixed. Haven't had a response from anyone on a fix. Multiple posts by others on the exact problem.

This is an update from my previous reviews.

I know that a few players are experiencing possible glitches in the game, but that is currently being checked out by one of JM's game designers.

I have not had any problems with the game. Everything is working as it was intended to work. I have gotten to level 120 so far and, as I was hoping, it has become more challenging and definitely worth playing! The castles are beautiful and worth the extra work to make sure you get the emeralds you need to build each one. As I stated in previous posts, the quality and attention to detail is superior in this game. I noticed that a couple of the bad reviews on the game page was because they didn't play long enough to fully appreciate how the game progresses. This game accommodates all levels of players.

Knowing the quality of games this developer produces, I found it hard to believe that there were any "real" glitches in this game. If there are any, rest assure they will take care of it soon.

Well, I did end up buying it after all! Beautiful game, like this interface more than JM Twilight Solitaire. 200 levels of one-up one-down solitaire and 12 bonus solitaire variants in the base game, multiple difficulty modes which can be changed at any time through the level map. CE extras include 120 more levels, 6 more bonus solitaire variants, and assorted other things like extra card backs, wallpapers, and strategy guide. I actually found myself having to use the strategy guide for the solitaire variants as I had no clue how to play them otherwise! The main game wasn't all that hard even in hard mode (time limit to make a move) but I found most of the variants too difficult to enjoy.

I didn't have any of the problems with not being able to advance with the current patched version. However, I did notice at least 2 of the trophies still don't work and every once in a while the game "forgets" you got an emerald so it's still possible to get a message that you need more emeralds...and you will have to go back and recollect those gems from whichever random boards the game "lost" your jewels upon. The game also crashed on me while playing the CE bonus Aces Up game but not anywhere else; may just be my system.

Really enjoyed the soundtrack and castle scenes as they seem better done than in JMTS which seems rushed in comparison (probably to get it out before Halloween). Besides the minor bugs still left, the only criticism I have is that most of the solitaire variants just seem too hard to play. Otherwise, strongly recommended!

I loved the game itself. But I was very disappointed to find that the promised 320 levels included the extra bonus games not the actual game. That only had 200 levels. Actually, I felt like I got ripped off since the price was quite high for this game.