Review Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Developer: 1st Playable Productions Publisher: D3 Publishing Genre: Puzzle RPG Release Date: March 2007 Platform: (review version) Review by Ray Ivey October 15, 2007		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

Since the Sony PSP was released in the Spring of 2005, I have been lamenting its lack of ANY good RPGs.  This absence was particularly galling considering what a cornucopia of RPG goodness that has been released on Nintendo’s handheld systems. 

What did the PSP have to offer?  Dungeon Siege.  Feh.  Untold Legends.  Meh.  Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth.  Bleh.

Finally, however, my pleas to the gaming gods have been answered.  And in a very unexpected way.  Anyone who has read my reviews knows I love hybrids, and  Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is very definitely a hybrid.  However, on paper, the two elements it combines sound about as likely to work as the idea of throwing together Final Fantasy characters with Disney animation icons.  Well, just as Kingdom Hearts unexpectedly worked, so does Puzzle Quest.

So what to elements does it throw together?  The first is role-playing game in a classic, high-fantasy.  You create a character, level up, learn spells, shop for weapons, and run around talking to (and/or fighting) all manner of dwarves, orcs, goblins, wizards, elves and such.  The twist is how combat is resolved.  Are you ready?  All conflicts in Puzzle Quest are solved by playing varieties of Bejeweled.  No, I’m not kidding.

Not into Bejeweled?  I wasn’t either.  It takes place on an 8 x 8 grid full of red, green, blue and yellow jewels, along with other symbols representing damage, money and experience.  You play by attempting to line up three or more of the same symbol, thus removing them from the board.  Your computer opponent is playing the same board you are, and the winner is the player who knocks out all of the opposing player’s hit points. 

The result is a compulsively-playable game that’s nearly impossible to put down.  It’s almost miraculous how the two gameplay elements compliment each other.  Key elements about your character – her spells, her gear, her mount and any magical items she has forged, can affect how the puzzle element of the game plays out.   All of these factors add a surprising depth to the basic puzzle gameplay.

One of the smartest design decisions in the game is how forgiving the game is regarding combat.  When you lose a battle, you don’t have to reload a game, or go back to a starting point, or lose anything at all.  You simply haven’t cleared this obstacle yet; and you have the option of fighting the battle over again immediately or coming back later and trying again.  You can even accrue experience points and cash from lost battles!

This forgiving nature is important, because your foes are quite difficult quite early in the game.  Many battles will require several tries to succeed.  But you won’t mind, because the battles are so damn fun.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Any fans of “Heroes of Might and Magic” our there?  Puzzle Quest has echoes of that series of games as well.  As you travel around the landscape, you can acquire companions and mounts, and even besiege and conquer other cities, thereby increasing your income.  There’s even a technology tree in your home citadel that you have to work through in order to research spells, take prisoners (from whom you can learn spells), and other activities.

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the fact that you can battle your friends in multiplayer across the wireless internet!

The game is available on both the Nintendo DS and the PSP, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.  The DS has the very intuitive point-and-tap with the stylus method of gameplay, while the game board looks better on the wider, clearer PSP screen.

Alas, what keeps Puzzle Quest from being a nearly perfect game for the PSP version are a couple of pretty bad bugs.  One keeps you from benefiting from the buffs that traveling companions are supposed to bestow on your character; and another blocks you from accessing certain spells that you learn from enemies.  It’s a shame for any of the richness of this game experience to be compromised, but neither bug is a show-stopper.

The game has one more tremendous asset:  It has the best musical score I’ve ever heard on a handheld game.  It’s simply epic, and adds even more pleasure to an already stupidly fun game.

Final Grade: A (find out more about our grading system)

If you liked this game, then Play: Heroes of Might and Magic

This review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link back to Just Adventure.