Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2 is a match three puzzle game, thus the basic premise of its gameplay is pretty clearly defined. Players swap the positions of two adjacent tiles in order to form rows of three or more like tiles. Those matched tiles disappear and more files appear and fall down to take their place.

As a result, it's the embellishments that Cradle of Egypt adds to the formula that give the game its shape. Depending on which tiles you match, Cradle of Egypt rewards you with different resources. Outside of the game's levels you then get a chance to spend these resources to construct buildings that unlock further bonuses during gameplay. This structure gives the game its theme (the civilization you're building up piece-by-piece is Ancient Egypt) and also poses some slightly strategic decisions between levels such as whether to construct a building which will enable more resource gathering or one that unlocks the pickaxe power up. The game also tracks game-wide achievements for players to pursue and collect.

As for the actual match-three puzzle gameplay itself, in my experience the title managed to stay in a goldilocks zone where matches were neither too easy, nor too difficult to spot. The game also changed things up by adding obstacles and objectives to the game board, like tiles that blocked off entire sections of the board until they had been matched or specific zones in which I had to make matches in order to beat the level. These challenges are counterbalanced by the power ups you can unlock and charge up for use. The aforementioned pickaxe, for example, can occasionally be used to clear a single tile from a spot without having to actually match it with anything (great for pesky blocks that hide in corners of the board).

It's worth noting that in my time with the game it didn't seem to leverage much 3DS functionality beyond 3D scenery on the top screen (the gameplay takes place on the bottom screen). My cursory experience didn't reveal much that couldn't have already been done on last year's regular DS version of the title.

However, I do remember a moment while playing where I made a single swap that set a multi-combo chain reaction of matches in motion. Particles went flying across the game's screen in heated celebration and the "cha-ching" sound effect of each set of tiles cleared increased in pitch until it hit a plateau. Possessed with the rewarding festival going on, I forgot the world around me. For the seconds that the moment lasted, I didn't begrudge Jewel Master: Cradle of Egypt 2 its simple pleasures one bit.