When I think of my motivation for buying a Nintendo DS in the first place, I always come up with the same answer; it's because it was red. I own a lot of red things - red jumpers, red quilt covers, and red shoes. Certain games turn my eyes red from all the strain while others make me see red from the sheer frustration of their gameplay mechanics, and while most people would have bought a DS for either puzzles games or their love for Mario, I simply bought my DS because it is red. I love games of all types though; there's not a genre I prefer and games don't score extra brownie points with me if the colour scheme of the front cover is made up predominantly of red. So, while it's true that Jewel Master: Cradle of Rome has elements of red there on the box, and that Rome is the capital of Italy, a country that has a flag that is indeed a third red, I won't be going any easier on this little puzzle title.

At its heart, Cradle of Rome is a pattern-matching puzzler. You are presented of a series of boards that are filled with an assortment of symbols and, using the stylus, you must match three symbols of the same type to make them disappear, with bonus points for matching groups of four or more and generating combo chains. You create matches by switching the positions of two adjacent symbols, on the horizontal or vertical axis, but you can only do so if the switch results in a successful match; as a result, a lot of concentration is required and eagle eyes are a bonus for spotting where potential matches lie. Your aim isn't to match up all the symbols though, because after each group disappears, the rest cascade down to fill in the gaps and more drop in from the top of the screen, often resulting in further matches and combo chains. Instead, your aim is to 'clear' all of the background tiles, which turn from dark blue to light brown when the symbols upon them are matched - and when all the tiles are cleared, you've completed the level. That's the core concept of the gameplay, although there is just a little more to it than this.

Smashing certain symbols gathers points, or resources, in three different categories - Food, Wood and Gold. Collecting these three resources allows you to build up your empire at the end of every level, spending a combination of them on buildings that grant you bonuses for future levels. For example, one building gives you the ability to collect hammers during levels and once you've collected enough, you have the power to smash other symbols in order to give you an advantage when it comes to clearing certain tiles. You collect resources by matching up symbols on the brown tiles that you've already cleared, so rather than clearing the board as quickly as possible, the aim is to avoid matching the final tile until time is almost up, to maximise the amount of resources you can gather in the time available.

The last twist to the gameplay comes in the form of level layouts that become increasingly trickier as you progress. To begin with they're simple grids, but soon enough they begin to vary in shape, with lone tiles sticking out of the grid in various formations that are harder to match than those within the main area, and holes within main grid that also cause problems with clearing the tiles around them. With layouts such as this, you need to think a few moves ahead in order to line up the symbols in a way that causes them to cascade down and match the symbols upon these awkward tiles.

Despite these attempts at enhancing the game, at its core it's still pretty simple; clear tiles by matching symbols and progress by buying buildings - there's nothing much more to it than this. I had hoped that building an empire might have been a bit more challenging or engaging, but the simple 2D matching is as complex as it gets. The gameplay is still quite enjoyable and addictive in short bursts, but the whole thing can get as repetitive as me telling you about my favourite colour, which, in case you haven't figured it out by now, is red.

Graphically, Cradle of Rome doesn't provide anything special and the busy screen with its tiny symbols can be quite a strain to look at during extended periods of play. The background music is even worse - terrible, in fact, when you consider that the game is supposed to feel Roman; on the contrary, these are the kind of riffs that you expect to hear in a hotel elevator. The game leaves your eyes sore and your ears tender.

If you look past the fact that Jewel Master: Cradle of Rome isn't as polished as it should be then you've got a reasonably fun puzzle game that's good for short spurts of play, perfect for train rides on red steam engines or big red bus journeys to Redditch. Sure, it's addictive, but so is Tetris, which is a great example of a ridiculously addictive game that doesn't hurt your eyes. Trading in your points or resources for buildings at the end of the level is a good concept, but the game is so linear that you don't really have a choice as to what you can build, which renders the idea somewhat pointless. There's no real replay value here, beyond the fact that there are a hundred levels to work through and that the gameplay is addictive enough to entice you back for the occasional session. They say that Rome wasn't built in a day, but a day on this game should be enough for any man in his lifetime - mortal or otherwise.

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).