Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

As I mentioned on my short review, Puzzle Quest is one of those games that you could play for a few minutes at a time, but which you're likely to find yourself spending long sessions at. Just one more sub-quest leads to yet one more, and a glance at the items for sale can lead to trying out a new ring, which itself leads to just one more quest, one more battle, one more captured enemy. Beware, because this game really is addictive. Maybe even more addictive than Lumines, because it actually has a storyline.

From the box art, you might guess that Puzzle Quest is just a version of PopCap's Bejewelled with a shallow RPG laid over it to give you an excuse to do puzzles, but that does not do the game justice. Yes, the combat is conducted by playing a puzzle game very much like Bejewelled, except you and your opponent are matching gems on the same board, and every move you make could help your enemy unless you carefully plan your jewel swaps.

The object is not simply to match jewels to get points. Each color jewel represents an element of mana, or gold coins, or experience points, or damage to your oponent. You have to plan which to collect in order to get enough mana to fuel your spells, without setting up the board in a way that will help you opponent. Sometimes you might collect mana you don't need in order to keep it out of the hands of your enemy.

The addition of spells, abilities specific to certain character types, and items you can buy as you progress through the game adds another dimension to the basic Bejewelled mechanic. You really do have to think and plan while you play, and the enemies only get harder as you go. I wouldn't have though such a simple puzzle could become so deep and absorbing, but in Puzzle Quest, it really does.

The RPG elements are not just a framing device, either. They actually send you on a real RPG quest, with an epic good versus evil storyline, and they create more opportunities to deepen the gameplay.

When you start a new game in Puzzle Quest, the first thing you do, as in any RPG, is choose a character. There are male and female versions of druid, knight, warrior and wizard, each with different strengths. (I chose a male druid, despite being female myself, because of the lovely raven perched on the character's shoulder in the artwork.) You can keep the name provided for the character, or enter in any name you want to use.

Each character type has different strengths, mana color preferences and fighting styles, so you want to consider your own approach to combat when you choose a character (or you might end up like me, trying to fight offensively with a character that specializes in defensive magic).

With your character created, you proceed to the world map, where most of the non-puzzle action goes on. It is here that you travel from place to place, collect useful rumors, shop for new items and decide which quests to pursue in what order. This is the part of the game that looks most RPG-like, and it's where non-combat interaction with other characters occurs, in the form of pop-up windows with animesque art and text dialogue.

Another aspect of the game that has interesting affects on combat is your citadel. At first you can only access it from Bartonia, the city where you begin the game, but each time you successfully besiege another city, you will be able to get to your citadel from that location as well.

There are various buildings you can add to your citadel once you have enough gold to buy them, and each gives you different advantages. A dungeon lets you capture enemies and a mage tower lets you learn new spells from enemies in your dungeon. A stable allows you to capture and train (aka level up) mounts, which can give you various advantages like greater speed or an extra spell. Other buildings allow to forge new items, increase your skills, get more money out of vassal cities, and the like.

Puzzle Quest manages to achieve considerable depth via the addition of these other aspects, but none of them are compulsory, so each player can choose which new things to add in order to best suit their own playing style (unless you're like me, in which case you have to get everything).

The Ad Hoc wireless capabilities allow you to use your character to challenge another player's character, so you don't have to confine yourself to battling the in-game opponents. Any gold or experience you get while battling your friends remains in your inventory and adds to your totals for the main game. It's a welcome addition to the game, and lets you actually defeat you friends, instead of just braggin about how your character could kick their character's butt.

I have to say that, even though I thought Puzzle Quest would be a really good game judging from the descriptions I'd read online, I really wasn't expecting it to be this deep. I found it totally absorbing to the point that, while it's possible to play for short bursts on the go, I preferred to save the game for when I could curl up in a comfy chair and be mesmerized for a few hours at a stretch.

This is one game I am not the least bit hesitant to recommend to just about any gamer, casual or hardcore.