7 Wonders II, the sequel, was the first I’ve played of the 7 Wonders series. While reviewing that one, I checked out 7 Wonders of the World, the original, to see how the sequel measures up. The sequel continues to reign even with the latest 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven.

Beautiful graphics continue to be the hallmark of the match three series with the latest induction. Players travel to nine countries in 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven to unlock three rings on an ancient compass. As soon as they unlock all the rings, players take one more journey in search of the Treasures of 7.

Players still work to create matches of three or more. The twist in this one comes in the ability to rotate the entire grid in either direction. First, you must clear the runes to reveal a path. As soon as you clear all the tiles, a “7″ key stone and a key hole show up on the path — one at the start and the other at the end.

The “7″ can’t leave the path as you work to move it toward its destination of the key hole. You can rotate the grid and make matches to guide the “7.” In later levels, a special block appears that can transport the “7.” Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes not. The good comes in that the transporter brings the “7″ closer to the key hole. The bad is that it can interfere with its progress, but that makes the game more challenging.

It feels like the game as a whole doesn’t challenge enough. The path does get more difficult by locking the key hole with a specific color. You must make a match over the lock with the same color to unlock it before the “7″ can do its job.

Don’t expect many bonuses as the rotating grid provides plenty of help. Shuffle shuffles tiles and you can’t use the feature again until the timer fills back up by making matches. It takes little time. Matches of four provides an ice ball and matches of five gives you a fire ball. Ice balls can destroy tiles across while fire balls can go both directions.

A window containing a match shows up from time to time. When making a match that looks like the one in the window, you get to freeze the timer for a little bit. Dice bonuses also return in this one and become available after receiving a handful of fire and ice ball bonuses. Move the dice to destroy random tiles, which usually work in your favor.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven has 50 levels, but it doesn’t take as long as you think it would to complete all of them. While the rotating grid certainly stands out from the previous two, the game doesn’t measure up to 7 Wonders II.

With the low pressure game style, 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven should make a great game for families and kids.

Download 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven from your favorite site:

• Big Fish Games
• Reflexive (sold by GameCenterSolution)

7 Wonders of the 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 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 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.

The recent announcement of the new 7 Wonders of the World prompted EWeek to start a fascinating conversation asking what should be the 7 Wonders of the Modern Computing World. You can read about the original 7 Wonders of the World.

The Apple ][ should be one of the wonders. It was the first affordable home PC. While other desktop PCs beat Apple, they were not affordable or realistic for homeowners. The Sony Walkman made music portable. While the iPod changed online music and music in general — the Walkman came first — if there’s room for both, then by all means.

ENIAC is another. Charles Babbage should also be considered. While he didn’t build anything, he originated the idea of the programmable computer. He sketched the archiecture for the difference engine, and scientists used the specs to build it in 1991. It worked. What do you think should be considered?