An Exciting Trip Through Egypt

If you're looking for a change in scenery, than you'll be glad to know that this product takes you on an exciting venture into - excuse the pun - the heart of Egypt! You play the lead role of Ashley Jones, archaeologist. A colleague of yours, Professor Knoll, has been heading an excavation in Egypt. Unfortunately, he's been suffering from some health issues as of late, and had to be flown back to New York City for treatment. As a result, you have to drop everything to fly to Africa and take his place!

You'll start exactly where he left off - overseeing an excavation at the first contract of The Nile. Another colleague, Thomas, has recently discovered some information that could lead to a jewel called the Heart of Ra, which was once thought to be nothing more than legend. This could be your chance to make your name known the world over!

A Terrific Puzzler

Ashley Jones: The Heart of Egypt is a traditional match-3 puzzle game. Those not familiar with the formula are sure to catch on right away - simply click and swap two tiles in order to match three similar tiles. When you make a successful match, those tiles will disappear and more pieces will fall in from the top. If you plan your moves right (or just get really lucky), tiles that cascade down can make additional matches and you can earn a whole slew of bonus points. I think my biggest combo so far has been 24 matches, which culminated with a big "Amazing!" splashed across the screen. It really added to the fun and the excitement of the whole ordeal. While these types of games can take a little getting used to, once you've got the hang of it, you can pull off some really impressive moves.

The pieces are arranged in a grid and a few of them have blue backgrounds, which you need to destroy in order to pass the level. To destroy a blue background, simply make a match on top of it. As you progress through the game, the blue squares will multiply like wildfire, until almost all of the screen is consumed!

Match is only a portion of the battle, however, as you'll have to collect relics as well. Remember, you are an archaeologist after all! You oncover relics behind the blue squares. After you reveal them, you must get them to the bottom of the screen (by getting rid of tiles beneath them) in order to collect them. Once you collect an artifact, you can put it in your museum. Can you get all of the treasures?

A Buried Treasure

Ashley Jones: The Heart of Egypt may not sound that great on the surface with its formulaic gameplay, but I was blown off my feet and completely enthralled after the first couple of levels. There's a reason that this type of gameplay is so popular and this product practically perfects it. If you've even been a fan of puzzlers, which I'm sure everyone has, you should absolutely give this game a whirl.