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There are 2 versions of this game: One that is for the MAC platform and one for the Windows platform. The one that I will be discussing is the Windows version of the game. The game play is a puzzle style which accommodates both the casual gamer and non-casual gamer alike. The main character of this crazy little game is Dale Hardshovel, an eccentric, rugged archeologist whose purpose of this wonderful title is to translate an ancient papyrus filled with a secret Egyptian brotherhood's language to solve the riddle of the Bloomstone. The player takes the form of Dale Hardshovel and is tasked to find all the parts of the Bloomstone by finishing some puzzles. In the beginning the puzzles are rather simple, but the puzzles do get a little harder and a little more frustrating as the game progresses. Every time the player solves a puzzle points are awarded for the amount of time you take to complete the puzzle and for the amount of pieces that are in that particular puzzle.

The game play is rather simple with the beginning of the game starting off with a conversation between the main character Dale Hardshovel and his daughter Daisy. The opening graphics start off looking like something out of a comic book, There is no audio for the dialogue, all conversations consist of popup balloons which you don't see too much of anymore. The in game music is what you would expect, a little cartoonish and repetitive, and it reminds me of other puzzle style games that I have played before. The game play is creative and is mostly unique in my opinion. It takes the standard puzzle style game and adds a little more to it by incorporating an adventure aspect of the game unlike of puzzle games which mostly focus on matching colors and shapes Dale Hardshovel allows the player to get a little more involved in the game as there is more to it than clearing rows of blocks.

Although I only played the demo version of this game it had me coming back to it again and again to see if I could beat my high score and to see if there were other ways of solving the puzzles more efficiently. This is a game that I would consider purchasing, not only for myself, but I would recommend Dale Hardshovel for gamers of all ages. Dale Hardshovel deserves a rating of 5/5, for its effectiveness at drawing in the player.

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