Puzzle Quest, in one form or another, has been out for various platforms since March of 2007. The XBox 360 version came out as a Live Arcade download in November and has proven to be a very popular download… and for good reason. If you’ve ever asked yourself what would happen if you crossed a traditional-style RPG with something that PopCap would release, you’d have this game.
The play centers around you, the hero, undertaking missions to save your kingdom (and help others while doing so). Most of these missions are simple “defeat Enemy X” or “Go to town Y”, although a few come in multiple parts. When you are fighting an enemy, your view changes from a map to the combat screen. The purpose of combat is to match different types of gems, coins, stars, or skulls in groups of three. If you’ve ever played Bejeweled, you’ve played the combat portion of the game. The four different types of jewels will give you different types of mana, the coins will give you more money, the stars more experience, and the skulls will do damage to your opponent. Play alternates (on the same field) between you and your opponent, which can make strategizing for the future difficult (particularly when you’re up against a boss character or another human). To keep things fresh, you also have an array of spells that you can cast with your collected mana that can alter gems on the playing field, force your opponents to lose turns, heal you, or an array of other things. Combat ends when one player is out of hit points.
The graphics on this game are sharp and bright, with the colors on the gems vibrant and the artwork during cutscenes well done, if a bit cliche. Cutscenes are simple 2d representations of the characters with text appearing at the bottom of the screen, so if you’re hoping for gorgeous pre-rendered cutscenes, you’ll be disappointed.
Sound is nothing to write home about. There aren’t that many sound effects, and you’ll be hearing the same themes during combat again and again. They are definitely well-done, but after a while they can get repetitive. Of course, this being an XBox game, you can always use the Media Player to listen to your own music in place of that in the game.
Control is simple– you’ll highlight the gem you want to move or the place you want to go to and press “A”. Spells are selected from a list with your left bumper, and you are always given a prompt with what button you need to push when. You do need to be careful that you don’t have an itchy trigger finger, though… if you move two gems that won’t create a combo of three or more gems, you’ll lose five health.
The gameplay is great if you’re a fan of Bejeweled or games like that. The factor of having a second person adjusting the gems adds new challenges, and you’ll never be wanting for new things to do in-game… aside from many repeatable missions, you have the ability to forge magical items, tame bestial enemies as mounts, capture humanoid enemies for new spells, and play in one-on-one bouts against any enemy you’ve beaten before.
Overall, I’d gladly pay $25 for Puzzle Quest (it’s current price on XBox Live Arcade is 1200 Live Points or $15). It’s a great game and well-made.
