Puzzle Quest takes some elements from the fairly straightforward puzzle game Bejeweled, where players will be able to flip two adjacent pieces to create rows of three or more gems. Once you find a match, those gems will then disappear and more gems will fall into place. It’s a fairly tired old formula that has had several variations over the years, though Puzzle Quest manages to rejuvenate such an idea and makes it much more addictive by allowing the collection of different coloured mana points, gold, experience and the use of special abilities.
The way battles work in Puzzle Quest is that you’re faced head-to-head with an enemy, with both of you playing in the same battlefield of gems; each taking turns to collect gems. As like any other RPG, characters in Puzzle Quest have unique abilities that can be used during battles. However, to use these abilities you must first acquire mana points. There are four different coloured gems in play (blue, yellow, red, green) that represent a certain element school of mana. As you continue to match same coloured gems up, the ones you clear will then be transferred to your mana pool, eventually allowing you to execute certain abilities. There are additional gameplay spins such as skulls filling the game field that, when matched, will cause a certain amount of damage to your enemy. Additionally, if you manage to match four or more gems together, you’ll receive an extra turn or other bonuses such as wild cards or experience points.
A simple idea, yet executed perfectly.
The challenge of the game is often set quite high, with most of your enemies not going down without a good fight. You will frequently have to be watchful of 4+colour match ups, and you will often have to deprive your enemy of receiving specific coloured gems to avoid being on the receiving end on some real nasty special attacks. In a matter of moments you could be fighting with full strength, though if you let your guard down for a moment you can easily find yourself with little health in a few turns. Puzzle Quest isn’t an overwhelming game that’ll wipe the floor with newcomers, though it is a thinking game; rewarding players that approach battles with more initiative and strategy.
Puzzle Quest provides gameplay through a number of modes, though most of the time will be spent in the game’s main quest. The main quest plays out much like your typical role-playing game where as soon as you begin the game you’re able to create a character from a roster of different classes – Druid, Knight, Warrior or Wizard – and from there you’ll need to travel across a large land, cleanse the land of evil and fulfill quests for other characters to receive items or gold. The game’s story is filled with plenty of fantasy clichés, producing a land full of dwarf's, orcs, wizards, elves and kingdoms under siege from a creeping force of evil. While the story is fairly predictable and a common RPG plot line, the dialogue is written extremely well, which helps build character and a bit of atmosphere as you continue to play the game.
While the core gameplay of Puzzle Quest is fairly basic, you’ll eventually realise the amount of freedom and depth that is offered if you’re willing to explore it. Players receive a hometown where you can purchase add-ons such as mage towers, dungeons, stables and various other buildings that grant you new abilities while traveling the land. You’ll eventually be able to capture enemies and acquire their abilities, train monsters as mounts and even forge new weapons. Additionally, each of these buildings provide a unique battle field to play in: capturing enemies will require you to match a certain amount of gems together, training mounts will match you against monsters that you’ll have to defeat in a limited amount of time, and learning new spells will require you to acquire hundreds of mana gems and a handful of magic scrolls. These additional battle field modes add a perfect balance to the gameplay, avoiding gamers from becoming too tired of the general head-to-head battles that the game mostly consists of. And naturally, there are plenty of side quests to accomplish that’ll provide extra experience points, items, and gold.
The familiar RPG features such as character selection and customisation are in full swing in Puzzle Quest.
Puzzle Quest is fairly flexible for a portable game too. You can play the main quest, which is ideal for longer trips, though there are also quick start matches that’ll allow you to use your character in head-to-head matches with similarly leveled enemies. Puzzle Quest also includes a fairly straightforward multiplayer mode for two players who each own a copy of the game. You are able to use any of the characters you’ve used in the single player quest, with the gold and experience you collect in multiplayer being available in the main game. The developers missed out on a golden opportunity though – Puzzle Quest would’ve been an ideal choice for the system’s online service.
Despite all the positives mentioned throughout this entire review, Puzzle Quest does unfortunately come packed with a few irritating shortcomings. The presentation of the game is fairly cramped, often making it difficult to view your enemy’s, and even your own, special abilities on the battle field without pressing a few menus that sometimes bogs down game time. The touch-screen recognition is sometimes unresponsive while in certain menus also - thankfully never during the core gameplay. While these problems can be a tad frustrating at times, none of them are really game-breaking issues.
Probably the most frustrating problem is the recording quality for the game. Admittedly, it sounds pretty awful. The soundtrack is generally quite varied and is implemented well for this sort of game, though listening to the music through the DS’s speakers is sometimes hurtful on the ears. The quality just sounds dreadful, however, we did find that if you’re willing to play the sound through some headphones then it relieves the pain somewhat.
While it doesn’t sport the cleanest of visuals or best overall presentation, Puzzle Quest is still remarkably enjoyable and, in this particular reviewer’s eyes, it’s probably the most addictive puzzle game since Tetris. The amount of freedom that is handed to the gamer is often overwhelming at times, yet this design choice helps maintain the freshness of the core gameplay. Puzzle Quest has taken all the best parts of an RPG, such as story, customization and freedom, and has mixed it with an extremely challenging and enjoyable puzzle game – it’s the perfect combination!
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