Puzzle Quest
Addiction has a new name.
I'm not usually much of a one for puzzle games (the original Lumines and Meteos are the only ones I like), however this one sounded different enough to appeal, the word of mouth across the internet was both positive and increasing exponentially. To seal the deal it was only £18. Oh boy! I drained the battery of my PSP on it in two days - that is precisely 7 hours and 26 minutes, according to the PSP's in-built battery monitor.
It's a RPG-puzzle hybrid. You build a character and wander about the map undertaking quests in typical RPG fashion. Each time you enter a battle you are taken to a grid, and must make a move which swaps two gems about and creates a row of 3, 4, or 5 identical gems. Depending on the type of gem, the effect is different. Red, blue, yellow and green give you mana, which you use to power your character's spells and abilities. Skulls deal damage directly to the enemy. Coins give you money to spend on your cities, skills and equipment. Stars give you bonus experience points. The turns have no time limits, so you can take as long as you like planning moves. If you match 4 or 5 in a row you gain an extra turn. Some spells and abilities grant you an extra turn, or prevent the enemy from taking theirs. As gems are removed those above fall down and new ones are generated at the top of the board.
When you build the correct structures in your city you can capture enemies, research spells, forge items, and capture and then train mounts for your character to ride. Each of these options requires you to play and complete a special type of puzzle, such as clearing a pre-set board so every last gem is removed.
There is a lot of space for character customisation. Initially you choose from 4 classes: warrior, knight, mage, druid. There's the character stats, which you can allot 4 points to each time you level up. They influence things like how much mana you get from different gem types, how much XP and gold you get after a battle, how often you have a chance to score a 'wildcard' gem, extra damage done with skull gems, and more. There's skills, which your character learns by levelling up and by researching. You may have up to 6 equipped at a time, and if you have a mount you can have a seventh skill which comes from the creature itself. Items and equipment work in the usual RPG way: they cut damage, boost stats, grant powers, etc etc. The maximum level is 50, and so far my character is levelling up at a nice, steady pace. Once you reach the level cap you can continue to buy skill points, so you can take your character further.
You can capture cities! They will pay you regular tribute.
The AI is very competitive. It does tend to be lucky, getting chains of gems from the new ones generated at the top of the screen, but to be fair I get such chains too. I've actually lost more battles than I have won ... partly due to my initially being rubbish.
Best of all, there is no penalty for failure. You keep any experience and gold you gained from gem matching and end up back on the map just before that battle. You can also replay battles whenever you like, and you still gain the same rewards from them.
It's perfect for play at any time. You can finish a battle in minutes, or you can go on a series of quests which lasts collectively for more than an hour.
Away from the campaign mode, you can play battles with your character against selected opponents of varying levels and difficulty. There’s also some kind of MP mode.
There's a PC demo of the game available for download, and a PC version coming out at some point. It's out now on DS and PSP.
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Originally Posted by Kraellin
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