Puzzle Quest is a fresh outing for an otherwise oversaturated genre.
- intelligent mix of Bejeweled and RPG
- addictive for a long while
- lots to do
NAYS
- will eventually fall into repetition
- puzzles in major boss fights would have been interesting
If there is one game that has been constantly installed on my PC - other than Unreal Tournament - it is Bejeweled (and Luxor II). However, if you've played Bejeweled you'd know that there is no true sense of progress and that it loses your interest after a while.
Puzzle Quests attempts to solve many issues by mixing RPG elements with Bejeweled, and the end result in a great game which will keep you entertained for a while, although it will at one point suffer from repetition.
The story in Puzzle Quest is not archaic or earth shattering nor is it a ho-hum experience. The story is solid enough to grant enough entertainment for those looking for a motivation to progress, and for those not interested in a story, you can skip through all story sequences to proceed to the "next level".
Levels are in the forms of missions that will have you traverse an unusually large map with lots of dungeons, caves and cities to keep you busy. Each mission represents an enemy encounter (or multiple enemy encounters) and you can also encounter enemies en route to a place, although it is not random as you can see them clearly and can be avoided if there is an alternate route.
The battle field takes place in a Bejeweled-like setting in an advanced form. You and your opponent take turns in moving around and matching gems. However, the gems have a greater purpose as each represent a different mana (magic) color. Attaining enough mana will let you pull of several offensive or defensive magic which you have equipped. You can also match experience point gems as well as skulls, which serve as a primary method of doing damage.
After each battle, you gain gold and experience point and you can eventually level up. You'd pass on stats to your skills as per RPG standard, depending on your character class, and you'd be equipping weapons, armor, accessories and spells you either earn from battle or purchase at towns.
You can also build your own citadel, and with appropriate upgrades, be able to train captured enemies to either use them as mounts (which boost your stats and provide magic) or learn their different abilities. You can also forge items from runes you find scattered around.
For all the above, except for battle, you are represented with an actual puzzle that you need to solve by clearing all the gems on the field, by matching specific gems or by matching a certain number of each gem. It is a great mechanic and is a break from your standard Bejeweled-like gameplay, but you'd wish it was integrated more often into the core missions and not the side quests. Like for example you need to solve a tough puzzle to defeat a boss rather than duke it out in the regular way.
The graphics are lovely, with cool effects and animations. The character portraits are quite detailed too, so the game has a surprising amount of cool stuff to look out. The sound department is a bit lacking but the tracks are generally fine.
All in all, Puzzle Quest is a great refresher for a standard genre with an oversaturated presence on the PC. You'll enjoy it for what it is, and it actually does have an ending too.