Jewel Master "Cradle of Rome 2" Game for Nintendo DS

I like matching games like Cradle of Rome 2.  As you reach higher levels, they get harder.  The object of the game is to complete your city and all the levels.  You have to get resources while you're matching and the buildings cost some of your resources.  The resources you can get are gold, food, and wood and stone.

The level shown below is Level 12.  You have to break all the chains and destroy all the blue tiles.  This is the level where it is starting to get hard.  There are 100 levels I'd have to complete.  What makes this level hard is that there are a lot of chains and blue tiles that you have to break before time runs out.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

After you've reached Level 12, this is what your city might look like.  In the tutorial, they wanted me to build a well so I can produce more food.

I really like this game because I'm good at making a lot of matches really fast.  There's one thing I don't like about the game . . . it's that the 3rd building you build costs 3,000 unites of coins and 2,500 units of food.  I don't like that because it's really hard to earn that much resources because the levels are getting harder.  If you fail the level, they don't give you the resources that I earned in that level.  I'm going to keep trying until I get past Level 100.  I get better as I play this game more.

You can buy Cradle of Rome 2 for DS and 3DS at most major game retailers like Amazon.com, Newegg.com, and Game Stop.


Thank you to Rising Star Games for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing additional products for our contest prizes.
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Free Printables: The Princess and the Frog

In anticipation for the release of Disney's The Princess and the Frog on a Blu-ray/DVD combo, DVD, and movie download on March 16th, here are some free printable coloring pages and dot-to-dot activity pages to get your young Disney fan in the mood . . .

To Print: Click on any image to enlarge. Make sure your printer is turned on and ready to print. Then right click on the enlarged image and select print. Use your browser's back button to return to this page.

Look for my review of The Princess and the Frog on DVD coming up later this week.

I did not receive compensation for sharing these free printables with my readers.

Review: Cogs . . . a Puzzle Game for Those Who Love a Challenge

For the longest time, I have been staying away from puzzle games because of their addictive nature. I was one of those people who would play Tetris in my head after I put my head down on my pillow and shut my eyes at night. I also do not usually have the time to spend playing games for hours at a time nor do I have the willpower to stop if I am addicted.

Cogs is everything I want in a PC puzzle game. It is both fun and challenging, but not addictive. In fact when I get stumped on how to solve a puzzle, I can turn the game off and come back to it later with fresh eyes. It is the perfect diversion for someone like me who may need to pause the game and walk away because of a number of different reasons.

So far, the game is based upon sliding around gears or pieces of steam pipes to reach the goal that is presented to you before each game begins. The one shown below was quite challenging. The goal is to connect the pipes, but the game board is two-sided. Solving one side could very well undo the proper placement of the pipe pieces on the second side.

This is the puzzle I am currently trying to solve. The goal is to make both clocks advance at the same speed by rearranging the gears. I've already had to walk away twice.

Please take a minute to watch this demo of Cogs:

I received this review as a member of the Game Review Network. Visit www.gamereviewnetwork.com for a chance to win your own download copy. If you would like to try this game for yourself, you can play the first 8 games for free when you download the Cogs game demo. If you like it, the full version is just $9.99 or under from any of the 3rd party sites offering this game. I personally think it is an excellent game for under $10, especially with 50 levels. For all you gamers on the go, you can also get Cogs for the iPhone.

Thank you to Lazy 8 Studios and the Game Review Network for providing a download of this game free of charge to base this review upon.