Don't let the minor flaws keep you from purchasing this deep and sophisticated puzzler
Since the franchise is called Puzzle Quest, it only makes sense to start with the puzzle. After having played CotW's square puzzle board more times than I could ever count, Galactrix's new hexagonal board is a breath of fresh air. The addition of diagonal movements really changes the way you play, and having new gems enter the board based on the direction you moved the gems in play makes for a more interesting and strategic game. I also like the special abilities you use in battles as they seem more useful and diverse, and you don't find yourself stuck in the rut of using the same one or two spells over and over again.
In CotW, the "meat and potatoes" of the game were creature battles which accounted for probably 90% if not more of the puzzles you played. Galactrix mixes things up a bit more so that you find yourself playing a variety of puzzles -- battles, mining, leapgate hacking, haggling, item crafting, etc. -- each with their own twist. For instance, leapgate hacking has you clearing gems of specified colors within a time limit; haggling has you clearing gems, and you get a discount at item shops depending on the number of gems cleared, but no new gems are introduced to the board as you play so you have to work with whatever you start with; crafting, you have to match gems to create special pieces on the board and then clear those pieces until you've acquired the needed quanties; battles are pretty similar to CotW but played out on the hexagonal board. It's a nice variety of puzzles, and the way Galactrix is designed has you playing different puzzle types more frequently, so you don't get burned out playing one type of puzzle over and over again.
A word on leapgate hacking: in order to move the story forward or get to new areas of the galaxy, you have to "hack" leapgates. This aspect of the game has gotten a lot of negative word of mouth, and I thought I would share those sentiments, but I've found that I actually really enjoy it. It forces you to be good at the game, to be able to manipulate the board in your favor and to quickly spot matches. It can be challenging, and sometimes the gems just don't seem to want to fall in your favor, but there's no penalty for losing, so you can keep trying until you're successful, and as you get better at the game, your rate of success will steadily climb.
There are also those who criticize this game as being all about luck, but it's not. Yes, there is an element of luck in it, but you'll win more games through skill than luck. Yes, it can sometimes turn the tide slightly one way or the other, but I've found very few instances where victory or defeat was purely a matter of luck. In fact, the more skilled I get at manipulating the puzzle board, the luckier I get.
Much like CotW, the setting, story, and characters are serviceable but largely forgettable, but then, they're really not the stars of the show. You could transplant this game to pretty much any fictional universe and have pretty much the same game. It's all just a nice diversion when you're not matching gems.
So what are the flaws I mentioned in the first paragraph? Leapgate hacking, I think, could have been made more fair. As it is, when you get a chain -- that is a string of matches falling into place one after the other -- you lose control of the board yet the clock keeps ticking. This can be particularly frustrating when you're one or two matches away from success and are forced to helplessly watch as your time expires thanks to a seemingly endless chain. It would have been nice if either the clock halted its countdown during chains, or chains gave you a time bonus. The second flaw is that the menus can be unresponsive. For instance, you'll click a menu item, but it'll register as a tap on the play area and your ship will fly off instead of heading through the leapgate like you had intended. The workaround is to get in the habit of firmly tapping and holding your selection until it registers, but it's an aggravation that shouldn't exist. Finally, you'll encounter frequent loading. Accessing your inventory, entering the puzzle grid, moving from the solar system view to the galactic view, and so on are all interrupted by a several second load time. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but the DS is a cartridge based system, and Galactrix isn't exactly pushing the hardware, so by all rights everything should be instantaneous. It's a minor nuisance but a nuisance none the less.
Galactrix isn't perfect, and it's not the leap forward that Puzzle Quest fans might have been hoping, but it's solid, challenging, addictive, and most importantly, fun. I recommend it.