Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS) Review
Posted by Steve McHugh on 07.24.2007
RPG and Puzzle in perfect matrimony.
Puzzle games are not, normally, an easy thing to write about. The rules to most of the games do not sound all that exciting. The same could be said for RPG’s, explaining how the turn based combat system works or describing +10 swords is normally enough to send most people to the merry world of sleep.
Combining the two genres should make the resulting game an absolute nightmare to talk about without sounding like someone who wears a cardigan and presents Open University at 3am. Especially when you consider that Puzzle Quest is a mixture of Fantasy RPG and Bejeweled.
And story wise this game isn’t going to tread new ground. An evil force is making its way into the land and its up to you to stop it. Along the way, you have to help various people in their own little quests as you get a bigger picture of what’s going on. Its hardly original but its nicely told and at least gives you a decent premise for why you’re running around in the first place. It even has reasonable dialogue, which impressed me when playing it.
So it’s a mix of RPG and puzzle games with a reasonable story, especially for a puzzle game, but does this mean that its a good game?
Graphics
Well graphically the game can be split into two parts. The story is told out in still cutscenes with written dialogue and its all very anime and looks very nice. The battles also look quite good with pictures of your character and enemy on the top screen and the battle system on the bottom. When managing to create 3 gems of the same type they vanish with a nice effect or explosion that helps to make it a more interesting aspect of the game to look at.
The main hub for wandering around, however, lacks polish and is more then a little drab whilst many enemies you come across will look identical no matter how many times you’ve fought that type of creature. A little variety in the designs would have gone a long way here to make things more interesting to look at. But these are minor issues in a game that does exactly what it needs to do get the job done well.
Unfortunately the screenshots are just not that exciting.
Gameplay
As I’ve said before the game mixes the fantasy RPG genre with the puzzle game Bejeweled. Bejeweled is used as the method of battle when facing enemies. If you’ve never played Bejeweled then it plays as follows: You have to match up 3 or more jewels of the same colour; they then vanish causing more jewels to fall into the open area. Rinse and repeat. Puzzle Quest does it a little differently and it’s when one of the RPG aspects comes in. Instead of just normal jewels, you now get jewels that all have a different use. Get 3 or more reds together and you increase your red magic, get 3 purple stars and you gain experience. And most importantly get 3 or more skulls and you’ll inflict damage on your opponent. There are also green, blue, yellow and gold coins to be had and gaining the various colours will allow you to use the spells at your disposal.
It doesn’t sound all that exciting but it really works very well. The system isn’t just used for fighting either, its also used to create items and capture enemies so by the time you get to the later enemies you’ll be well versed in how things work.
On top of the excellent battle system you also have more RPG aspects, you can equip various items that improve stats and when you get enough experience you get to level up. In fact even if you lose a fight you still gain some experience, meaning that you won’t always get stuck in the same part for too long, a great idea quite frankly. You can be as involved or not as you like in the RPG parts and if you really want to get stuck in, there are a huge number of items to create and cities to take control of.
There are also plenty of side quests to keep you entertained, and whilst most of them are go fetch quests or attack this person, some have fairly interesting back stories that you’ll learn about. Such as the Troll who keeps wanting you to go and find outlandish foods for him to eat.
There’s a lot of fighting to be had in this game and you can always see enemies on the screen so you know where to go to avoid them if you want to, but fights are a great source of gaining money and experience quickly so more often then not you’ll take a few minutes to beat the Troll or Skeleton that blocks your path.
After you fight certain types of enemies a number of times, you are given the option to capture them. So long as you’ve built up a few parts of your kingdom (which only requires money to do) you can then learn new abilities and in some cases even use them as a mode of transport. Although riding around on a giant rat is probably not the most hygienic method of transportation ever these steeds give you increases in your stats, which is always useful.
However there are some pretty big problems, the main one of which is that the CPU opponents seem to have extraordinary luck. During matches they will often be able to get 4 or 5 in a row giving them an extra turn and causing more gems to fall down. But on some occasions these new gems will form 4 or 5 in a row and on it goes as you just have to sit back and watch as the new falling gems seem to always give them something extra. To be fair this will occasionally happen to you too so that you don’t feel quite as bad as you might if it didn’t but there is an even bigger issue lurking here. Most of the time if there’s a chance for the computer to get 3 or more skulls then they will take it but occasionally they don’t and will just go for a seemingly innocuous trio of gems. This results in an extra turn, which is meant to be random, and they will then use the skulls afterwards.
If this happened once or twice it wouldn’t be a problem but it happens on a regular basis as the CPU seems to be completely aware of exactly what 3 gems put together will give them an extra turn. Its the only problem with the gameplay, besides being slightly repetitive, that detracts from the over all achievement the developers have managed with the gameplay. It won’t stop you playing but you will feel cheated when it happens, especially when going up against a much harder opponent.
Just so there is no confusion 'thrust' is not a dance move.
Sound
Its perfectly okay. In the same way that bread and butter is perfectly ok. You’ll eat it but something more there would be nice. It doesn’t help that the DS speakers just can’t do the sound justice but after a while you’ll just turn the volume off and not bother with it again.
Fun factor
This is a hugely addictive game and a lot of good times are to be hard within its ample charms. But having the computer cheat to win will erode that goodwill pretty quickly. Fortunately after a brief period of frustration you’ll soon go back to playing it again. The multiplayer is also pretty good and allows you to use the character from your main game with all the experience you’ve gained so far. Unfortunately it needs both of you to have your own copy but the game is half the normal price so its a pretty big incentive to go buy the game anyway.
All of the characters have male and female versions but most of them look very feminine anyway.
Lasting Appeal
The main quest is huge, there are hours and hours of gameplay here and then there are 4 very different characters to choose from. Then you’ve got the multiplayer mode and even a quick battle option if you so wish. This is a game that’ll keep you occupied for weeks on end.
The 411
Well faults aside this is one of the best puzzle games on the DS. It successfully manages to create a game that uses old elements of two genres to create something that actually feels fresh and new. On top of that its a budget title so everyone should at least try this game as it really is excellent value for money. It manages to be a complete success on a console that is rapidly gaining a reputation for excellent puzzle games.
Graphics
8.0
The anime styling looks very nice and suits the game well but the hub is a little drab. More variety in the enemies would have been nice.
Gameplay
9.3
Bejeweled is a classic and works well within the RPG framework but there are a few AI faults that keep it from being perfect.
Sound
6.8
Its perfectly acceptable but nothing that won’t get turned down within a few minutes.
Lasting Appeal
9.2
The main quest is enormous, especially if you complete the side quests. The multiplayer and quick battle aspects only add to it. This will last you a very long time indeed.
Fun Factor
9.3
Huge amount of fun to play and no matter if you win or loose you will always come back for more.
