2-4-1 Mahjong and Jewel Quest II

We've all seen it before; take two less-than-average products, stick them in a big colourful box and slap a 'Two for the price of one!' sticker on the side – preferably in a bold, bright red font.

In the world of videogames, such offers usually see an above average title paired with a vastly inferior game. Which makes for a pleasant surprise in the case of this new bundle from I-play, because it consists of a puzzle pairing that's a great deal higher than 'above average'.

Despite being the older of the two, MahJong Quest is arguably the better half, with its fiendish level design and intriguing plot. Turns out a young child, Kwazi, is in possession of a set of cursed tiles that have summoned a trio of terrible dragons.

Rather than calling on the services of a budding St George, the task has fallen to you to save everyone by solving the ancient mysteries of the MahJong Quest.

These mysteries take the form of a series of 30 Mahjong boards, where you must match pairs of numbered, patterned and lettered tiles stacked in a variety of increasingly complex formations.

Paired tiles are removed from play, freeing up further tiles as you work your way through the stack to uncover the Yin and Yang examples and thus progress to the next board.

In addition to the normal tiles, there are a selection of special tiles with various effects. These can change the properties of normal tiles, for instance, switching one tile with another or raising the value of a numbered tile. These special abilities must be applied carefully, however, as imprecise use of a special tile can hinder your progress.

Further difficulty comes in the form of a time-limit that can be crippling if you make a mistake on one of the more complex puzzles. Thankfully, you can restart from the point you left off if you run out of lives, though this will reset your score to zero.

The ultimate goal of MahJong Quest is to find inner peace, and there's certainly a Zen-like quality to the puzzles. It's very easy to find yourself slipping into a near-trance as you pick your way through each new tile structure, occasionally making use of the undo feature when your efforts reach a dead-end.

Best of all, when you finish all 30 levels you get to do it all again, only with slightly altered puzzles and additional tiles.

Of course, should you find yourself tired of numbered tiles and rampaging dragons, there's always Jewel Quest II. Trading Buddhist philosophy for the plains of Africa, your goal is to find the fabled Jewel Board, which contains untold riches, all in order to somehow save a damsel in distress.

To get to the Jewel Board you must gain clues to its whereabouts by solving puzzle boards. The plot soon becomes little more than an irritating distraction to skip through between each level, though, because this is one of those addictive puzzle games that just won't let go once you're in its clutches.

At first glance, Jewel Quest II looks just like any other 'match three' game, first made popular by Bejeweled (or Diamond Mine if you want to be more precise). In fact, it plays exactly the same as Bejeweled, except for one key twist: each time you make a line of three or more identical pieces, the tiles beneath each matching piece turn to gold.

Your aim is to turn every tile on the board golden before the timer runs out, which proves to be a lot more difficult than it sounds. Although the earlier boards are simple enough to negotiate, later levels include isolated tiles which can be tricky to get, or locked pieces which need to be matched multiple times.

What starts out as a simple task, then, becomes rapidly more complex, leading to puzzles which require careful thought and planning.

Help is available in the form of gold relics. By matching three of these disc-shaped pieces, you gain units of gold that can be used to colour a single tile of your choosing. The gold relics are in short supply, however, forcing you to save their use for situations where you most need them.

Graphically, both games hold up well under scrutiny. This is particularly true of MahJong Quest which contains a large amount of tiles within the tiny mobile phone screen. Despite the relatively small display area, each individual piece is easily distinguished from its neighbours. The sound, too, is excellent throughout, with the chime of a successful match in Jewel Quest II meriting special mention.

Of the two, Mah Jong Quest clearly has the better learning curve, although there are a couple of frustrating later levels that can be a tad unforgiving. But any annoyance in either game is quickly overcome by the desire to beat the current level, and its followers, which is the sign of a well-designed puzzle game.

If you missed out on these titles first time around, then you'd be hard-pushed to find one, let alone two puzzle games that will keep you entertained as long or as ably as this bundle. Like all good stories, Jewel Quest II and MahJong Quest have passed the test of time – they're just as good now as they were the first time we saw them.

2-4-1 Mahjong and Jewel Quest II

Contains more puzzling fun than you can shake a dragon's tail at. If only all 2-4-1 offers were as generous as this
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Wayne Turton
Wayne Turton
Wayne's childhood ambition was to become a superhero. However, having been told that running round in tights is improper adult behaviour he now spends his days playing video games and watching cartoons instead. Millions of citizens sleep more soundly in the knowledge that he isn't watching over them.