Take a Bejeweled style ‘match 3’ game, come up with a load of variants on that concept, wrap a classic fantasy RPG story around it and what do you have? Possibly the best game of the year! Most genre-melding efforts fail to produce anything that fans of either genre enjoy, but Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is both a great puzzle game and a great RPG. The puzzle aspect is a simple variant on the jewel matching game that millions have enjoyed since Popcap introduced Bejeweled in 2001, while the RPG is an interesting mix of Japanese and Western styles, with a high fantasy setting and characters presented in a distinct anime flavor.

This game was brought to the PSP and DS handhelds in early 2007 and has recently been introduced to the rest of the world in versions for the PC, PS2, XBOX360 (on XBOX Live Arcade) and Wii. Most recently, a Mac version based on the Cider translation software has come out and looks, feels and plays identically to the PC version (not surprising since it is the same version running on a translation layer). All are essentially the same game we played back then but with a slight twist for the controls of each platform.

The way in which the RPG and puzzle genres are combined in Puzzle Quest is truly inspired, and it’s also the reason that the gameplay is so addictive. As a role-player, you start out as a low-level character in your class of choice – Druid, Knight, Warrior or Wizard – with all of the usual attribute bonuses and drawbacks. You are the son of a noble in service to the queen in a time of fast approaching danger, and you slowly gain her trust by accomplishing small quests in the local area around the castle. You gain experience and gold by completing quests for the various people you meet, eventually leveling up and allocating the attribute points you earn. These grant you certain affinities – for example, having a Fire affinity grants you more damage with fire spells and a higher likelihood of an extra turn when matching fire gems. Gold is used to buy items like weapons and armor at local shops, as well as catching up on rumors at the tavern.

Technically the game hasn’t changed much from the initial versions – most of the new versions look pretty much identical to the DS version, just upscaled for better graphics. The Wii version has arguably worse graphics than the PSP version, but every other version looks great. The graphics for the map, people and battles are excellently rendered, with special effects exploding off the screen as you fight your way through the game. A nice sweeping soundtrack and minimal voiced dialog make for great companions on your epic quest – and none of it costs much in terms of load times on any of the systems. All suffer from a fairly lengthly initial start-up, but once you are into the game you will never wait more than ten to fifteen seconds for anything to happen in the game, and most things happen instantaneously.

The controls are perhaps the greatest variable from version to version of the game. For the PC version, it is every bit as simple as the DS version – to match gems you click one gem, then the other, and they attempt to swap. If you want to cast a spell you click on the spell. It really couldn’t be much easier. For the PS2 and XBOX360 the controls are similar to the PSP – you use the control stick to move around and the face buttons to make your selections to match or cast spells or cancel an action.The Wii version, aside from having lousy graphics, also has problematic controls. It seems like it should work: you point at the first gem and press the A button, then point at the second gem and press the A button again to match. You use the same process for casting spells and anything else you have to do in the game. The problem is that the pointing control feels completely unassisted – my quick assessment would be that it feels like tracing text projected on a wall using a laser pointer from across the room. Yeah, that bad. My older son was really bothered the first time we played against each other because I ended up beating him badly because two critical matches he tried to make were misinterpreted as ‘illegal moves’ … of course I capitalized and took him out.

After a while two things will happen – you will start to get followers and you will gain a stronghold. Followers grant bonuses to your attributes and battle parameters, such as the dark hunter who gives you an automatic 10HP strike against undead at the start of battle. Your followers also have quests they are seeking to accomplish, which takes you all over the map as the game progresses. Speaking of the map, it is a nicely laid out 2D affair that shows all of the towns and other critical points once you have found them. To move you simply highlight the desired end location using the d-pad or analog stick, then tap the X button and you’re off. Certain areas are available from the start and others are discovered through quests and interaction. When you get a quest your destination is highlighted in a color based on whether the quest is a main or side quest, then the points on the map are connected by ‘routes’ and enemies can appear along the way. This means that going to do a quest might be a free trip, but the return can result in three or four surprise battles. These are not ‘random encounters’ in the Final Fantasy tradition though, as you can choose routes to avoid extra battles; but when there are three roads leading to your destination and each one has an Ogre on it then you’re going to be fighting an Ogre.

The stronghold system is pretty amazing – you get a fortress and can build a dungeon and wizard tower, along with other structures, using the gold you obtain by completing quests. This stronghold serves several purposes; you can now capture enemies you have defeated three times, learn spells from your prisoners, craft items based on runes you obtain by searching just about every location on the map and train and level up mounts to carry you into battle. Eventually you can also learn techniques that let you besiege other cities and build yourself an empire!

The combat system itself all boils down to ‘match gems and go’, yet it is deep and varied and terribly addictive. There are five basic combat modes – standard combat, capturing enemies, learning spells, crafting items and upgrading mounts. All but the standard combat is goal-based single player gem matching with parameters for success. For example, to learn a spell you need to accumulate points in all four elemental types, as well as creating and matching a certain amount of spell scrolls based on the difficulty of the spell. Run out of moves and you fail. This can get tricky, since scrolls are only created when matching four or five gems, or meeting certain other conditions. Capturing enemies involves completely clearing a preset pattern – more difficult enemies are more difficult to clear. There is pretty much a single solution for these, which is acceptable since you only capture each creature once.

But the vast majority of time is spent in standard combat. This is where puzzle game meets RPG in the most strategic and addictive puzzle combat you could possibly imagine. Everything you do matters – your choice in weapons and armor augments your natural abilities, as do the items you have crafted. Mounts give you an extra spell and can also boost your natural attributes. Combat is turn-based gem matching, with some preset rules – matching four gems means an extra turn and matching five gems gives an extra turn and generates a wild card. Matching colored gems gives you mana of the same color – blue, green, yellow and red mana match with the four elemental masteries. Matching stars gives you extra experience (provided you win the encounter) and matching coins gives you extra gold as a reward. But since the ultimate measure of success is reducing your opponent’s health to zero, matching skulls is the first order of business.

Matching skulls deals direct damage to enemy health based on the number you match and whether they are standard or +5 skulls. That is pretty much how the first couple of battles will go – you will try to match four gems or get a chain of matches going to cause massive amounts of damage. But you have to be careful, because your opponent will take advantage of your mistakes and the ‘luck of the fall’ can favor them just as likely as it will favor you. This is where spells and skills come into play; for example, if you have a high Fire Mastery then you become very likely to get an extra turn from matching three red mana gems. Likewise, if you have a Fireball spell, you use up some red and yellow mana and get to select the center of a 3×3 block to destroy – and you get the benefit of all gems destroyed and subsequent matches. The proper use of spells can change the tide of battle in a single turn; I have taken down stronger opponents before they had a chance to flex their muscles and equally I’ve experienced battles where I had most of my health intact and an enemy was one turn from destruction, then I watched as they used spells and skills to get favorable drops and eventually beat me.

So what else is there to say about Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords? Not much – other than this game will ruin Bejeweled for you forever, because you will be longing for some consequences beyond just getting points. You will also quickly descend into ‘just one more turn’ territory until you make your way to the end, which will take dozens of hours. This is the casual game that will push anyone who touches it into late night gaming sessions last seen by bleary-eyed folks playing Civilization IV! The save system is excellent and constantly keeps things updated without you having to manually save all the time. It just works. Also, there is no death penalty – if you fail you can simply try again until you succeed. You can repeat certain side quests for added experience, which turned out quite handy when I found myself feeling a bit outclassed approaching a main quest battle – just went back and spent time repeating a lucrative mission until I’d leveled up a couple of times and was ready to keep going with the story. And that is the beauty of Puzzle Quest – it keeps solid puzzle action in your face at all times yet never lets you forget that it is a deep and engaging role-playing game.

Score: 5 / 5 Stars for every platform but the Wii, which gets 3 / 5 stars for terrible graphics & controls.

Tags: Game Reviews