7 Wonders II (DS) review "There’s enough going on to ensure that 7 Wonders 2 is more than just another gem-matching puzzle game, but it doesn’t really build upon its unique traits enough to truly distinguish itself from the crowded masses. There’s enough going on to drive you through the entire game, but, once this is done, there’s little to drive you back again."

I knew that the age old secret of three interlinking gems of a matching hue causes unexplainable implosion, but I was unaware that history’s greatest monuments owed their stone block harvesting to this ancient trait.

7 Wonders 2 uses the construction of sacred and hallowed landmarks like Stonehenge as an excuse for DS owners to arm themselves with a stylus and nudge gems around to meet these respected traditions in the means of colourful explosions. The primarily aim of this venture is to snipe out combinations of pre-selected colours that, when combined, add blocks to your worker stockpile and allow you to build you mystical bit of architecture all the swifter. This leads to a silhouette of the current monument cropping up at the end of each stage. You can dismiss the shady, shadowed blocks with a quick prod of your stylus, assuming you have the building material in stock. Uncovering the right areas can lead you to hidden bonuses like points and aids in the next stage, or you can snake your way up to a visible super power.

These powers range from a bomb that destroys everything around it to voltage amp that spits diagonal lightning to flash fry anything dumb enough to impede it. You can only obtain one new power up per monument and are free to pick a fresh one per stage, though you can obtain more by uncovering secret map pieces that throw you into a hidden secret puzzle with a limited move set. Your chosen power-up will slowly charge, powered by each manufactured implosion, giving busy block busters the chance to employ it multiple times over a given stage. Likewise, the option to shuffle the blocks up in the hopes of granting you new solutions.

It all combines well. Stages can be completed by removing each stage’s backing tiles, which explode along with any gems housed upon them, and a clear screen is needed to progress. Bigger than normal gem explosions can cause special attacks to form, such as a fireball that spits flames in a plus formation, or a laser that destroys entire rows. There’s also a dice power-up that can make large numbers of random blocks vanish.

Though the game might sound busy, the admittedly long sounding list of features combine to make a simplistic and somewhat addicting game. The game’s main mode ties all these together with the purpose of building the titular Seven Wonders, give the puzzling focus in spitting out those building blocks and searching for those hidden maps. Then, it’s over before it’s really begun, leaving you without the obligatory extra choices like survival and time attack modes. All that remains is to try and outdo your total score after all seven complete stages are beaten and slog through the main game once more.

There’s enough going on to ensure that 7 Wonders 2 is more than just another gem-matching puzzle game, but it doesn’t really build upon its unique traits enough to truly distinguish itself from the crowded masses. There’s enough going on to drive you through the entire game, but, once this is done, there’s little to drive you back again.

Staff review by Gary Hartley (November 14, 2009) Gary Hartley arbitrarily arrives, leaves a review for a game no one has heard of, then retreats to his 17th century castle in rural England to feed whatever lives in the moat and complain about you.