PC Game Review 7 Wonders II

7 Wonders of the Ancient World receives a sequel in 7 Wonders II, which comes with new wonders. The game takes 400-plus years to build — by making match threes — seven wonders plus one surprise wonder except we know game time doesn’t compare to real-life. Unearth Stonehenge, The Colosseum, Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Shwedagon Pagoda, Angkor Wat, the statues on Easter Island and one mystery.

The original game’s shiny-style runes get a makeover to more stone-styled runes with etching depicting various objects. Since each wonder has a corresponding rune, so speed construction of the wonder by creating matches with the associated rune.

Cute workers slog away on the bottom of the screen taking fallen bricks from creating matches and moving them to the construction site. Though I love the action especially when they celebrate the completion of a level, it’s hard to watch them while I’m quickly making matches.

For a power up, create a match of four runes to gain an ice ball that destroys a row of runes. Make five matches for a fireball that can burn tiles in a column and row. Bonus dice show up so you can wipe out random tiles and earn bonus points. That’s not all for the power ups. The game has 12 and players must decide which one to use in the next level. After using a power up, it must recharge before it’s available again.

In 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, parchment showed the wonder’s construction progress. 7 Wonders II doesn’t stop there. It lets you add collected bricks to the construction or you can let the game take care of it. As you (or the game) add the bricks, a surprise bonus could appear.

Upon finishing a level, players receive a bonus that reveals a map puzzle or a mini-game. The mini-game’s objective is to free the star, cornerstone, or object at the bottom of the board by making limited moves that require logical thinking. The mini-game nicely increases difficulty, but not the main game.

It’s not until around round two in the game when the main game becomes more challenging. 7 Wonders II contains the right amount of challenge for the average match three player while experienced players will glide right through the first round.

Learning the game’s rules and play takes little effort thanks to the thorough tutorial. The game has two modes: Regular and free play. Regular resembles adventure mode where you build each wonder. Free play lest you replay any unlocked wonder. The game doesn’t stop there — after building all seven plus one wonders, the game starts over at the first wonder and continues with the difficulty where you last left. You also retain your points.

Don’t let your opinion of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World affect your decision to try 7 Wonders II since the sequel brings wonderful improvements. You can play the sequel without bothering with the first one — it won’t make a difference. Beware that once you play the sequel, you won’t want to play the outdated original.

Download 7 Wonders II.