Adventure Time is one of Cartoon Network’s most popular shows, and Puzzle Quest is one of the most famous puzzlers in the past ten or so years. So put them both together as a free-to-play game downloadable for iOS devices, Google Play, and Amazon for Android (reviewed on iPad here), and you get a winner, right? Well, read on and find out!

Basic gameplay is like other Puzzle Quest titles in that you must slide colored stones around into rows and columns of three or more. They’ll disappear, which will translate into an attack for Finn, Jake, and their many friends (including Gunter the penguin and Princess Bubblegum). Make chain reactions for more powerful blows against baddies in turn-based RPG style, and watch the action unfold on the top part of the screen. Match four or more colors to get special blocks that clear out everything.

When the meter is full on the characters’ icons, you can tap them to unleash a special move. Sometimes these moves (like healing spells) won’t activate unless you match a certain stone that has a symbol on it. In turn, enemies can cast spells on blocks that can affect your party unless you clear that block out of the way. Be on the lookout for loot, keys, and treasure chests. Match them with the same colored stones to nab goodies. At the end of the battle, you’ll earn rewards. These rewards let you craft helpful items like healing potions. You can also earn food you can eat to rank up as well as other neat stuff. Use a map to choose your path and quests, which involve silly antics from the Adventure Time show.

The game isn’t without its problems, though. They don’t do a good job of explaining what everything does, so you’ll have to fiddle around with everything to figure things out. But I imagine it is easier if you enjoy the TV show and play other Puzzle Quest games. I do neither, so that may be why I had trouble at first. Play control can also feel sluggish at times, and it wouldn’t let me slide stones the way I wanted to a lot of times. There are also hardly any voices from the cartoon, which isn’t much of a problem, but every other Adventure Time game I’ve reviewed had lots of voices, so it was kind of disappointing. Even though the game has free-to-play annoyances, they really weren’t that apparent when I played the game. You do always have to be connected to the Internet; you have to wait for a while if you lose all your energy, and all the good stuff costs real money with in-game purchases. But if you like Adventure Time and Puzzle Quest, you may want to give this a try anyway.

Kid Factor:

Violence is minimal and cartoony. You can see the Adventure Time cast smacking cartoon enemies around with silly attacks, and they disappear when defeated, but that’s it. If you’re OK with your kids watching the TV show, they’ll be OK with the game, too. Reading skill is needed for the text, and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews, Television