Bejeweled Blitz LIVE
Bejeweled Blitz LIVE is a tile match-3 game developed by Torpex Games and published by PopCap and Electronic Arts. It is a spinoff in the Bejeweled series and is a console version of Bejeweled Blitz, and features exclusive content including multiplayer modes with online play support.
The game was released on the Microsoft Store on February 23, 2011. This game was also included as part of the Xbox 360 retail version of Bejeweled 3. The game is slated to be delisted on July 29, 2024, alongside the closure of the Xbox 360 store.
Overview
See also: Bejeweled Blitz
Bejeweled Blitz LIVE, like its original counterpart, involves scoring as many points as possible in one minute. Bejeweled Blitz LIVE is controlled using the D-Pad or Control Stick to move the cursor, and the buttons to move or twist gems. The game is otherwise identical to the standard Bejeweled Blitz, albeit with the omission of Rare Gems and Coins.
Bejeweled Blitz Live is divided into two main modes.
Main Modes
Classic
Classic mode replicates the original Bejeweled Blitz formula. Sixty seconds are allowed for the player to match and score as much points as possible. With the controller, the player uses either the left analog stick or the D-pad to navigate the cursor to select a gem, before pressing one of the four face buttons analogous to its swap direction to create matches. The Hypercube is only available in Classic mode.
Twist
Twist mode replicates the original formula from Bejeweled Twist, with major changes. The Gem Rotator swaps four gems at a time as in Bejeweled Twist, however, in Blitz Live, it can be spun both clockwise and counter-clockwise. With the cursor over sets of gems, pressing A/B/RT rotates it clockwise, while X/Y/LT moves it counter-clockwise. Successive matches are indicated as notches on the Gem Rotator itself, accompanying a minor score bonus for every chain match. Both the bonus points and notches increase to a full "ring" of ten matches.
Unlike Bejeweled Twist, creating an intersecting match creates a Lightning Gem instead of a Flame Gem as in the original game. Matching five gems in a row also creates a Lightning Gem, while six gems in a row creates a Supernova Gem, which is only possible in Twist mode.
Multiplayer Sub-Modes
Both Classic and Twist have identical sub-modes that support multiplayer.
Battle Local
Two players can participate in local, splitscreen multiplayer with two separate controllers. Playing against your opponent, the game is scored in three categories. Points is the score accrued from normal play, Style being the rating of the scale of detonation of special gems and quick matches, and Amps being successive legal moves in Classic, or Chains in Twist.
Contests are decided in a best-of-three format across the named criteria. If the game is tied, both players are credited with a win.
Battle LIVE
This has the exact same gameplay as Battle Local, but your opponent is connected over Xbox Live.
Party LIVE
Up to sixteen players connected over Xbox Live can either Join Private Matches or play in a public Xbox Live Party. All players are placed in a scale on the bottom-left as standard Blitz gameplay commences, with all players placed in bubbles that rise and fall according to matches, detonations of Special Gems, and your position in the Party. The Party is endless, and after a game ends, Blitz Live auto-joins you to another sixty-second session, continuing from your standings in the previous game(s). The objective is to be the player at the top of the Party.
Trivia
- The Hypercube uses a unique design only seen in Bejeweled Blitz LIVE. It features a design based on the gem's appearance in Bejeweled 3, although it is much brighter, and without the black bordering seen on the edges of the cube in the Bejeweled 3 design.
- The Hypercube also adopts the sound effect of the Lightning Gem when it is created, a fact that is also unique to Bejeweled Blitz LIVE.
- The Star Gem has been discarded in favor of the similar Lightning Gem, which is identical in all but name and its static animation.
- Some of the sound effects and backgrounds in the game are reused from Bejeweled Twist.
- There are unused encouragement voice lines (Good, Excellent, etc) within the game files that are supposed to be used. The encouragement is still present, but without the audio response, as with every other title in the Bejeweled franchise.
- Like other Xbox games, the online modes require the player to have an active Xbox Live Gold membership to access online game modes.
- This is the only Bejeweled game with the Twist mechanic that allows the Gem Rotator to spin in both directions.
- The Ignition Meter, that uses an orange bar to indicate Blazing Speed proximity during a Speed Bonus, is not featured in this game.
- This is the latest Bejeweled game to use the sci-fi theme used in earlier entries in the series. Games afterwards would solely use the fantasy theme.
- This is the last Bejeweled title released by PopCap independently before Electronic Arts' acquisition of the company.
- This is the only Bejeweled game to not be supported on the Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program.
Gallery
Promotional Material
Xbox 360 tile
Game Banner
Xbox 360 tile (Japanese)
Japanese Banner
Game logo
Microsoft Store background
Game Icon
Promo art of the Yellow Gem on the Torpex Games website
Promo art of the Blue Gem on the Torpex Games website
The gems
Trailers
- Bejeweled Blitz LIVE Xbox 360 Game Trailer
- Blitz Live How to Create Special Gems
How to Create Special Gems - Bejeweled Blitz Live
- Blitz Live How to Get High Scores
How to Get High Scores - Bejeweled Blitz Live
Screenshots
Title Screen
Main Menu
Game Mode Selection
Classic Mode Screen
Twist Mode Screen
A Lightning Gem and Hypercube being detonated at once at Last Hurrah in Classic.
A Blazing Speed being declared in Classic.
A "full-ring" Gem Rotator detonates a Lightning Gem in Twist.
An assortment of Lightning Gems being detonated at once at Last Hurrah in Twist.
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- Bejeweled (series)
- Spinoff titles