Jewel Master

"A decent game with a unique twist..."

Jewel Master...a pretty good game that noone knows about. In any case, there are many Genesis games that are good, but nobody has heard of them. Jewel Master is one of those games. It's actually a classic to some degree, but enough about that: ON WITH THE REVIEW!

Story: 5/10
Meh, an old arcade esque side-scroller with hardly any story, so what else is new? Basically, we have this kingdom that has had peace for many years. There are twelve ''Elemental Masters'' in this kingdom who use magic rings of the four elements to fight evil. However, some demon guy comes around and attacks the kingdom for some reason. Some of the masters are killed by him, and the last ones pool their energy together to create the result of their combined powers. I don't know the exact term for this guy, but he's the only one who can stop the demon lord. Only problem is that he is nothing without the rings which are scattered all over the world. So off he goes to get the rings, and defeat the demon lord.

Gameplay: 8/10
The gameplay is actually pretty good. Basically, you are the final master that I talked about before, and you go around getting rings. Each ring has a special power. There are four kinds of rings. Water, Wind, Earth, Fire. There are three levels of power. A jewel set in the ring, a helmet like thing in the ring, and a teardrop in the ring. Each element has it's own starting power. Flame, fast walk, barrier...These powers become stronger as you get higher levels of ring. You get these by defeating bosses. The cool thing is that you can wear two rings to a finger, so you can mix n' match the rings to create completely new powers like fireball, wave, high jump...Each duel ring has a main component, and a minor component. As you get higher levels of the main component, you make the new power stronger (ex. lvl.2 fire + lvl.1 water = two fireballs on the screen at a time.) Upon getting a lvl.3 of each ring, you gain the ultimate ability. I won't spoil this for you, but it's very cool. You start out with a mere lvl.1 fire ring and a lvl.1 water ring, so there is a lot of hunting to do through the levels. You progress through five of them, which are very well designed. Each one is quite unique, ranging from a desert, a range of mountain/volcanos, and an icy tundra. Each level has a boss, and a mini-boss. You always get a ring at the end of each level, after defeating the boss. You occasionally get a ring from defeating a mini-boss. Speaking of bosses, the enemies are some of the best designed I've ever seen. Giant worms popping out of the sand, savage moles, wasps, orcs, , golems, and goblins are just some of the enemies you encounter on your journey. The bosses and mini-bosses range from possessed tigers, firebirds, bone golems, and the Demon Lord himself. There is also a little sidequest you can do throughout the levels. In the first four levels, there are spirits of the elements hidden in the level. They are easy to find in the first two, near impossible in the next two. Whenever you find on, it will absorb itself into you, thus increasing you maximum health allowance. It may take a couple tries to find them, but they make the game go along MUCH easier when you get all of them.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics aren't anything to write home about, but they are still very good. The ruined buildings, the desert, The Demon Lord's castle, are just done well. The SFX are good too, from the explosions, to the magic. The graphics are certainly worth a look at.

Sound: 7/10
The sound is pretty good, sometimes a little bland, but I never get tired of listening to the level music. The explosions are great, the sound when you use a ring, the moan of a baddy, they are nearly perfect!

Replay: Nearly None
There is hardly any replay in the game. The only thing worth trying for is getting all the elemental spirits. Besides this, there is hardly any.

Overall: 8/10
Jewel Master may not be a classic, but is worth picking up if you want a day or two of fun. Somehow, the creators of the game managed to get it all to roll together to make a very good game. If a game is good, it's probably worth buying. This goes for Jewel Master

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/15/03