Customer Reviews

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In the video game world, the puzzle genre and the RPG genre are like apples and oranges. Both are delicious fruits to be sure, yet they're two completely different genres. Certainly genres that no one thought could ever actually come together. Yet here stands Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords. A hybrid of the puzzle and RPG genre, and the hybrid works! Puzzle fans and RPG fans alike will absolutely love this game.

You'll start the game by choosing a profession. A warrior, druid, knight or something like that. And as you go through the game, you'll discover there are tons of RPG elements in play here. You'll traverse worlds, visit towns, collect items and equipment, and most important of all: you'll battle, and this is where Puzzle Quest truly shines.

The only puzzle game which comes to mind to compare this to is Bejeweled, a game several of you have probably played on your PC or cellphone several times over. You're given an 8x8 grid where you'll swap two tiles in order to get three of the same tile. When you match up three tiles the tiles will disappear and three more tiles will drop in to fill the void. If you've played bejeweled, it's exactly that. However, the color of the tiles represents something. The purple tiles, for example, are experience points. Each time you make three purple tiles disappear you'll gain additional experience points from the battle. Skull tiles deal damage. You've also got tiles that represent your mana, and when you take those tiles out you get more mana.

The way in which battles take place is really quite interesting. You and your opponent share the same board and will take turns to clear out the grid. Your goal, of course, should be to go after the skull pieces to deal damage, but it doesn't hurt to do other things as well. Red, blue, yellow and green tiles represent your mana, and each color pertains to a different spell. However, you'll want to snag these too to recharge your mana and cast spells. You'll want to go after the purple tiles for more experience, and after the Gold tiles to get more gold. This is much more than just trying to kill your enemy before he/she/it kills you. You'll also want to try and get more than three tiles at a time. Stringing together combos and getting rid of more than three tiles nets you an extra turn, and believe me, your computer opponents are no dummies, they will take advantage of this and kill you. It's surprisingly strategic, addictive, and of course, it wouldn't be a puzzle game without multiplayer, and the multiplayer matches against your friends are just as fun and addictive.

Yet the game never puts aside its RPG elements either. Puzzle quest is actually quite a lengthy quest. Complete with sidequests, optional bosses, characters that join your party and everything! Believe it or not, this game probably does span the length of an RPG. That means you could easily spend over fifty hours with this game. To keep its RPG elements in tact, you get experience points from each of the various battles you'll be in. When you level up, you get a chance to distribute points among your attributes. This means giving you a chance to increase things like your strength, HP or your mana skills.

Visually the game is quite impressive. The PSP looks better than the DS version, of course. It just looks more crisp and has more visuals going for it. The manga style artwork is beautiful, and so are the overworld maps and story sequences. This is quite a game to have on your PSP. The only real problem is the load times. Sometimes they can just be daunting, but it's hardly something to worry about. Most PSP games suffer from the effect of load times. By now PSP owners should be used to this.

On paper it doesn't sound like a good idea to mix the RPG and puzzle genre together, but the final product is certainly a fantastic one. RPGers and puzzle gamers alike owe it to themselves to check the game out. This is more than just another purchase of bejeweled, it's a puzzle game with great RPG elements that keep it interesting for hours on end. A fantastic combination.

Pros:

+An interesting hybrid of puzzle and RPG elements that work
+Addictive and strategic gameplay
+The computer is not stupid
+Fun multiplayer experience
+Engaging quest
+Top notch graphics
+Top notch music
+Hours upon hours upon HOURS of gameplay
+The construction of the games elements (tiles representing mana, gold and so forth) is just so well done and put together and it makes for a far more interesting gaming experience

Cons:

-Load times can be annoying
-Sometimes the computer is unrelenting; thankfully, you're not penalized if you lose a battle!

PuzzleQuest is an intriguing combination of role playing game and tile-matching puzzle game. There are definitely other role playing games out there - and I own several tile matching games which are this exact same style of gameplay. Somehow the combination of these two games makes the overall gameplay much more fun, because you switch back and forth between the two.

To start with, you can be a fighter, paladin, druid or wizard. You can be male or female, and choose your name and image. These little touches really do help to personalize your experience. Soon you're off exploring your kingdom, realizing that evil exists in the world and doing your part to combat it.

When you come across an enemy - say a wolf or an orc - instead of hitting X to slash at it, you launch into a puzzle game. You might wonder how this wolf is smart enough (or has opposible thumbs) to play a puzzle game like this, but you have to suspend your disbelief a bit here. It's the standard three-in-a-row style game, with a twist. You're not just trying to clear the screen. The colors you remove have meaning.

First, there are red, blue, green and yellow tiles - these fill up your four types of mana. You have a variety of spells you can cast, and each spell requires different combinations and values of these mana types. If you're fond of a spell that requires yellow and green mana, those would be the tiles you focus on removing.

Not only that, but if your enemy seems to be fond of a spell requiring blue and red mana, you would do your utmost to clear those tiles before he can get to them, to minimize his ability to attack.

There are skulls that cause instant damage when you match them up, and other tiles that give you extra experience and cash. These come in handy because ...

Yes, it's an RPG too. When you're roaming the world, you can stop into a shop to buy weapons and armor. These give you bonusses during your puzzle stage. You can beef up your main home base, adding on new buildings. The buildings then let you have additional abilities - learn new spells, capture mounts to ride, take over enemy towns, and much more.

There are of course quests to go on - from delivering messages to taking out specific bad guys. There are interesting people you run in to talk to, with personalities and backgrounds to explore. Sure, this isn't a 800-hour multi-class leveller RPG like Dungeon Siege - but it's still a ton of fun.

I love the graphics in the game, and I really love the music. One or two of the songs aren't my favorites, but the rest are songs I really enjoy. These guys did an awesome job with every aspect of the game. If I'm going to find a flaw, it's that the annoying messages that "float up" over the screen when you're trying to play the puzzle game obscure the tiles, so then you have to sit there and wait to see what remains to know what to do next. That and the messages are generic, so you can't tell if something affects you or your enemy. You might think it would be obvious - but sometimes if you do a chain sequence, and then he moves immediately after you, it's hard to tell what parts of the chain are coming on you and what messages are from his immediately following move.

Highly recommended!

When Bejeweled came out years ago many people got hooked on the game. NOw, with this game, many people will be hooked all over again, yet never be able to go back to Bejeweled. The combat for this "RPG" plays out on a Bejeweled like board. Match up three symbols and you get mana for a spell, additional money, cause direct damage, or get expereince points. You must defeat your opponent to move on. If you lose, you still get to keep the money and experience points you earned, and it gives you the option to fight again right away, with no penalty except for the time you spent. It can take 15 minutes for some of the battles to take place, so it can be exciting when you are both down to a few hit points each.

The RPG portion is more story, and very light on the role playing. You get to level up your character, but you have few choices. But, in my opinion, it is as deep as it should be. This game could take a 100 hours if you do all the quests. It is so addictive. I am a huge RPG player, but am ignoring them now to play this game and do one more fight, go for one more item that will allow me to get more extra turns.

I hope for a sequel, but don't know what to add. Great job, developer. Your game is amazing!!!

First, let me say that Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is an extremely fun and addicting game. It beautifully melds an RPG-style game with a challenging (yet not overly complicated) puzzle-type battle system. I'm an RPG fan (not so much turn-based) and my girlfriend loves shape/puzzle games (tetris, etc.).
We both had a great deal of fun with the game UNTIL the devastating bug. I'm not talking about the OTHER bug (roll eyes) that makes your companions useless. While frustrating, I could live without the companions.
No, I'm talking about the common bug (for the PSP) which prevents you from looking at your new spells. Yes, the PSP will crash if you try to look past spell number 6 or 7. Not a big deal? Well, if you can't scroll down to them, then you can't equip them. Basically, you're stuck with your first few spells for the remainder of the game, even as your enemies growth in health and skill.
Worse, there is no rhyme or reason behind when this bug strikes. Some people think it has to do with your level, number of companions, mounts, etc. The point is - unless you want to spend the entire game leveling up without reaping the benefits of improved spells while having to fight increasingly difficult foes, you have to start over. And that will only lead to more disappointment.

I like this game alot, but releasing the PSP version with this bug is unforgivable. They could have even released a patch to fix it, but they haven't (trust me, I've contacted the developer and publisher numerous times with no response!).

So while I can recommend the game based on its gameplay, I ultimately cannot recommend it because of the crippling PSP bug and the refusal of the developer/publisher to address it.

If you're a fan of Bejeweled, this is quite a treat for the PSP. However, the one major difference in the gameplay is that you are competing with AI which alternately takes turns on the game board. Whereas you always want to set yourself up in Bejeweled, you don't want to leave a nice board for the AI in Puzzle Quest.

Though the RPG element is fairly limited and simply a framework for the puzzle gameplay, it provides an interesting and engaging twist to the experience.

Quite a treat!

First off, anyone familiar with the Bejeweled types of games online will immediately grasp the game. All battles, puzzles, and challenges are handled by playing this puzzle type of game. Of course, with an RPG twist, gameplay can be changed/affected with spells that you amass as you gain levels and/or capture enemies.

The only knocks against this game are:

1. The combat mechanic can get old if you're not interested in that type of game.
2. Once you reach the level max of 50, most enemies pose little to no threat.
3. The forging mechanic leaves a bit to be desired since it won't explain what you're making until you commit to do so. Also, some of the items are comparable to ones you can buy or pick up early in the game, so even creating a Godlike weapon can be anti-climactic.

I intentionally got those out of the way so I could begin to sing the praises of Puzzle Quest. Like I said, it's an RPG wrapped around a puzzle game. However, I'm truly amazed at how they took a game that is known and reinvented it into a game that easily sucked 25+ hours of gameplay out of me.

First off, you get to choose between four different classes. Yes, they matter. There are seven "stats" available to each character. The four magics (Earth -green, Fire - red, Air - yellow, and Water - blue), Battle, Cunning, and Morale. Each class has preferred stats which cost less to upgrade. You're given only four points to spend in stats when you level up and the preferred stats cost 1 pt each while some cost up to 3 pts each.

Once you've decided on a class, you begin quests. There are a bunch of them. Delivery quests, kill quests, storyline progression, etc. Sidequests give you access to new members who might join, new items, new titles (with stat bonus benefits), etc.

Eventually, you'll earn enough money to build a citadel of your own. This allows you to capture enemies and use them as mounts or learn spells from them. It also allows you to forge items (once you begin finding runes), train mounts to higher levels, and buy stat bonuses. Yes, spend your gold on the stats you'd like to raise but are too costly to raise with your level bonuses.

I apologize if I'm not explaining everything, but it's an intentional choice. There's so much to do in this game! For those of you that really want to learn every spell, make every Godlike weapon, train your mounts to 20+, complete every quest, conquer every city (with siege warfare), and collect all the titles, it's going to take a while.

For me, the game was a great length. I chose to complete all the quests (including the side quests), dabble in the other areas of mount training, spell learning, and item creation, and finally finish off the main storyline once I maxed my character out at Level 50.

It's a great game that you can pick up, fight a battle or two and put back down. Or, as was more my case, look up to realize that it's 3am and that the game has eaten those hours easily. Of course, just one more quest won't hurt...

Puzzle Quest is a wonderful concept, setting match-3 casual gameplay in a basic Roleplaying Game framework to create a fresh new approach. But the PSP version is bug ridden, and has crashed on me many times. I had read online about the bug that the companions you find in the game don't actually help at all - that's something I could live with. But I had to give up playing one character because every time I tried to scroll through his spells the game crashed and the PSP shut down. I'm most of the way through with a second character and have only experienced two intermittent crashes, but that's inexcusable in a released title like this. I'm a professional game developer and would never release one of my own games with this many serious bugs.

They've really come up with something unique here. In it's day, bejeweled won tons of fans, but now the 3-in-a-row game has become somewhat archaic and definitely overused.

However, Puzzle Quest has brought in a much needed element to give the 3-in-a-row mechanic something it desperately needed - strategy! It's no longer just a matter of matching up items. Now it's important WHICH items get matched up. All of them have benefits and usefulness, but it comes down to strategy as to which you need.

So far, I've got about 10 hours of gameplay under my belt, so I know I haven't seen everything yet. But I do believe I've seen all of the game's features.
~ I find the story to be enjoyable. Nothing overly intricate, but it helps give purpose to the game.
~ The whole 'bejeweled as combat' format really works well. I find myself constantly wanting to play "just one more fight".
~ The classic RPG elements are present - skill sets, spells, items, and the like. There's enough variety to keep things very interesting for quite some time.
~ I think the city building aspect was a nice addition as well. I like how it opens up new features of gameplay - ie - capturing characters, learning new spells, creating your own magic items. There's a lot to be done.
~ Even with a pleasantly suprising amount of depth, the game is very approachable and easy to pick up. You don't even really have to worry about the story, or all the extra things to do. But, then again, that's all the stuff that makes the game so much fun and drives the replayability.

I am a not much of a puzzle fan but I love RPGs. I just got a PsP for X-Mas and this was one of the titles that i picked up. I am pretty far into the game and have to say that it does get a little tough and that you may find yourself facing the same enemy several times before you are "victorious". Although it is not your typical rpg and whether or not you are into those match three like "whatevers" I highly recommend this game..

First off it is a good game but the glitches just like the DS version. Like someone said before you can't call you companions in to help well I could not use certain my spells. I gain 15 spells altogther and could only use a few. When I tried to select different spells my PSP FROZE AND SHUT OFF :(. This is why I give the game a 2, it a fun game but this glitch is killing me.