|
CONTACT US
WHO ARE WE?
ADVERTISE
GAMES ARCHIVE
NEED HELP?
BUY MOBILE GAMES
BUY PSP GAMES
BUY DS GAMES
SPECIAL OFFERS
COMPETITIONS
MOBILE GAME DEMOS
PSP GAME DEMOS
DS GAME DEMOS
FRIDAY FREEBIE
POCKETPICKS
POCKETGAMER.fr
POCKETGAMER.biz
FREE BINGO
BINGO SITES
ONLINE BINGO
CHINA WHOLESALE
|
DS GAME REVIEW
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the WarlordsEverything's aligned |
 |
Not since Monty Python and the Holy Grail has there been a medieval adventure as sacrilegious as Puzzle Quest. Breaking from the traditional hack-'n'-slash RPG, it rolls in like a Sir Bedevere's Trojan Rabbit, albeit one bearing the gift of addictive puzzle-solving gameplay.
In Puzzle Quest's extraordinarily lengthy campaign, you take the role of a hesitant hero from Etheria, a land overrun with ugly orcs, nefarious necromancers, and all manner of feral beasts. In the form of either a druid, warrior, knight, or wizard, it's your job to quiet down the surge of evil by dispatching its mastermind, Lord Bane.
As with any role-playing game, your goal is to move around this world of castles, dungeons and villages, defeating creatures and gaining experience points in the process. But in an interesting twist – and as its name suggests – Puzzle Quest sees you hacking apart your enemies using the medium of turn-based puzzling.
If you've ever played games such as Connect Four or casual Web favourite Bejeweled then you'll have a good idea how this works.
Battles occur on an 8 x 8 grid filled with coloured mana gems, skulls, coins, and purple stars. Your goal is to connect lines of three, four or five items together. This not only removes them from the grid, but you also gain the effects of whatever you've joined together to make the line.
For example, connecting a line of three blue gems grants you that much mana for casting spells (there are four different coloured manas representing earth, air, fire and water). Matching skulls deals damage direct to your enemy. Coins contribute to your coffers, while purple stars bring you additional experience points.
All you have to do to move items on the grid is tap and drag them with the stylus. The system works very well, letting you intuitively position items to maximise your puzzle-solving power. On rare occasions, the touchscreen will err and you'll miss a turn, but for the most part the interface holds up nicely.
Coins and experience points are well and good, but winning battles is about taking your opponent's hit points down to zero. Bringing a line of skulls together is the best way to dish out the hurt, and you can also cast defensive and offensive spells.
These spells can be unlocked when you reach specific levels or can be learnt from your enemies. One of our favourites is the stun spell, which delays your enemy's turn and effectively gives you two turns in a row. Using spells like this becomes crucial when facing advanced foes, so you'll want to learn a variety of magic and play around to see what works best for you.
Success also requires you to be able to think ahead, both in order to set up your attacks, and to make sure you don't leave obvious moves for your opponent to exploit.
You'll also spend plenty of time optimising your character's attributes, by distributing your experience points between options such as battle, cunning, morale and the four types of magic. In this way, developing your character provides a ton of depth – and Puzzle Quest doesn't stop there. You can also boost your abilities by building a citadel using the cash you gain. More practical than that silly place called Camelot, expanding its facilities enables you to capture enemies and train them as mounts, as well as researching magic and forging weapons to augment your combat abilities.
Even with these resources and a well-developed hero, you'll get beaten by many of the tougher foes. This can be blamed on the often insanely challenging artificial intelligence that often lands killer combos, resulting in strings of devastating attacks that eat up your hit points. Fortunately there isn't any penalty for losing a battle; in fact, as you get to keep any experience earned, you're encouraged to try until you emerge victorious. Nevertheless the process can become very frustrating, and the spiky AI is the one real gripe we have with Puzzle Quest.
If the campaign gets you too heated, you can always amass a bit of extra experience in the multiplayer mode, assuming you have a friend with a copy of the game; sadly there's no support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, nor can you trade items. Still, the head-to-head matches do provide some passing fun.
All-in-all, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords provides an experience that despite its hybrid nature is surprising enjoyable, engaging and lengthy, if overly difficult at times. It's unlikely to gain the sort of widespread reputation of Monty Python's quest, but we think you'll have a hard time saying "Ni!" to this innovative little gem.
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Puzzle Quest very successfully mixes the depth of an RPG with a neat puzzle-based battle mode
|
| |
|
Joined:
Mar 2007
Post count:
1
Excellent value and an exceptional take on a simple game.
Will have you playing for weeks. Easy to pick up for 5min to 5hours. Appeals to already avid gamers and probies alike.
Only dissapointment is that you only have 2 save slots for characters, however once i complete with my druid profession i'm gonna try a different one.
Joined:
Apr 2007
Post count:
244
I got this game recently.
Only cost £20, which is a bargain for this great game.
I have a couple of other new games as well, but have hardly touched them as this one has got me.
It's easy enough to learn really.
At first I was getting savagely beaten by the computer, but after some practice and realising the AI does not plan ahead as well as a human (although it spots available pieces immdiately available very well).
Then I used a more long term strategy and now I am doiung a LOT better, winning most battles fairly comfortably.
After saying that, I'm only at lvl 9 ATM, so pretty early on in the game.
but what I see so far, I like.
Joined:
May 2007
Post count:
10
I haven't played anything quite like this before, the quest is surprisingly compelling and the leveling process is nicely done. The music is a tad repetitive, but sweetly epic and fits quite nicely.
My only complaint is with the two save points, a couple more would have been nice, and that occasionally you or your opponent will score unbelievable combos, which either cause a defeat that seems unfair, or a win that is somewhat cheapened. Minor gripes; this is a great game with excellent replay value.
Joined:
May 2008
Post count:
28
I too found this an excellent puzzle game, far better than any other block-matching puzzle game so far thanks to the character & background story.
Because you're playing an opponent on the same board, you need to not only think of your current move but their next move, so you sometimes have to act to limit their options. The variety of opponents ensure battles are not all played the same - though matching skulls is always desireable, or your opponent will do it and hit you hard.
The four different character choices give excellent replay value, and yes, it would have been nice to have four save slots to keep all your characters, but that's a minor niggle.
My wife and I both bought this game and have come back to it time and again.
Joined:
Jul 2009
Post count:
10
 OK, Well, you know, im a 26 year old male, typical blokes bloke, i fart belch, you know.. all the regular stuff a 26 y/o male does.. so there i was one night happily playing along with ninja gaiden, slashing away.. HIYAA!! EEEEYAA!! come get it you one eyed freak.. e.t.c.
from outa nowhere a freakin wolf thing kills me.. for fup sake.. anger ensued, DS got rapidly switched off an thrown on the couch like a teenager in a sulk.. when i noticed i hadnt tried puzzlequest, puzzlequest i laughed, oh great, just what i need, another game for the Blue Rinse generation. hold on granny i have the DS and your puzzle game thing here i shout..
i throw it in my DS.. an i sat on my couch.. half eaten spaghetti hoops on my shirt, socks half off.. tired.. i start playing puzzle quest, i glance up from the DS to see that its now light outside an iv spent the last 4 hours playing a remake of bejewled, although cunning this game is.. its not some sort of girls game.. oh no.. this is a manly game.. i sit up straight as i battle an ogre over a game of connect 3 / 4, DOH! another freakin mana draw!
somehow tho.. the DS has a canny nack of cheating.. there always seems to be a succession of skulls for the DS to line up an kill you with! dont let that put you off tho.. perservere and the win at the end of the battle will make you feel better!
anyways you will feel good because you can level up.. and buy weapons an armour and you can cast spells and get friends to come along in your battle group.. and a big huge exciting map, you can capture enemies , research spells, so much action..
and at the end of the day.. its basically a bejewled game..
but its freakin awesom!! you want to play more just so you can level up an get magic spells or whatever you do with your level ups!!
pick it up.. i dare you.. you wont put it down i guarentee!!
you can even pretend your a manly man an yell !! OH FOR FUP SAKE ANOTHER FUPPIN MANA DRAW!! CHEATING BASKETS!!
Enjoy!
disco3000 | 7 October 2009
I have to agree with the previous comments - Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords is surprisingly addictive. It is a variation of the insanely popular game, Bejewled, but it is also more than that. Because it has RPG elements to it, that is an incentive for the player to continue playing what is basically a "puzzle" game and progress deep into the story of the character. The AI is at times, unrelenting in it's visciousness, but persistence is the key, and you will eventually learn strategies for winning battles. I give it a 9/10 for gameplay.
|
|
