Review - Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
This is the game. This is the game that I've been waiting for - forever. 5 out of 5
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is a game that combines puzzles and quests (aka the RPG element). It's available on both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. The PSP version has a bigger screen and I've heard has slightly better controls using the D-pad instead of the stylus (I'll get to that). However the PSP version has a bug were your companion's abilities don't work.
The game world is based around the PC Game Warlords and certain creatures and places may be familiar to some people. When you start out the game you pick from 1 of 4 character types, Druid, Knight, Warrior, Wizard. Each has a 4 male/female portraits to choose from (a nice touch in this kind of game) and a random name gen or you can put in your own. Each class has a selection of powers and skills that develop differently and surprisingly I found made quite an impact on how the game plays.
The story is pretty linear and doesn't change as far as I can tell between the characters and your choices don't really have an impact on the story either so replay value may diminish over time but that doesn't take away from the game at all.
The game plays out as your character working his/her way up in the world and becoming a warlord yourself. You do this by first doing quests for various people and later on by exploring ruins and conquering cities. The game world is presented by a map that gets populated with places as you progress through the game. As you level up you develop your skills and learn new spells.
Typical quests are deliver a message, kill this person, search this dungeon etc... Fairly standard RPG stuff. On top of that you can build up your characters's skills, powers and equipment. Plus collect companions and different mounts a long the way. Additionally you can build up your own citadel and conquer other cities which then means you have to deal with potential riots and other situations. You can also collect runes and make your own magic items as well as learn spells from various creatures that you have captured. You can also train your mounts to increase their abilities. You also have the ability to just fight creatures of your choice or other players via multi-player at any time. Basically it's a pretty solid and well built Warlords style experience that offers a lot of potential for people that love to collect things.
Now the puzzle element. Every conflict is handled by a puzzle game. The standard combat which is the meat of this game is handled through a game like bejeweled. You and your opponent make moves back and forth on the same grid. As you line up 3 or more of the same icon different things happen. 1st there are 4 different types of mana (Fire, Wind, Water, Earth), then you have Gold, Experience and Skulls. To defeat your opponent you have to kill them by lowering their hit points to 0.
To do that you can match Skulls, for ever 3+ skulls you match you do a number of hit points of damage. You can also collect enough mana to power your various spells that do direct damage or modify how much damage you do by matching skulls. Additionally you collect items that can boost your damage as well as many other aspects of the game. Your skills also play a roll in how effective each symbol is for you. If you match 4 or more symbols you get to go again (which is a major advantage) 5 or more earns you wild cards. Start off a chain reactions and you can get multiple effects. A big enough chain reaction and you collect a hero bonus of +100 xp.
Other challenges are handled by variations of the combat game. Creating an item for example requires you to match a fixed number of forges (based on the difficulty of the item) together and if you run out of matches you have to start over. Learning a spell requires you to match a set number of different mana and scrolls together. Training a mount requires you to battle an increasingly tougher version of that mount as at each level at a decreasing time limit. Capturing a creature requires you to clear the board of all combinations. The good thing is that in most cases if you fail you can simply try again. However in some situations in the story a death will result in slightly different out comes - though the story will progress.
The DS version uses the stylus to click your pieces on the board and there were a few times where it mistook the choice I was trying to make. I do wish that you could alternate to the D-Pad on the DS version for that reason. But the stylus is certainly faster then moving the D-Pad around. I've read a couple reviews complaining that the DS version was hard to read. But I haven't found that to be the case at all. The graphics are fantastic and every symbols is differentiated by colour and a marking. I guess the green/yellow mana types are slightly hard to pick a part but it's a minor thing. Also if you are stumped and wait a few seconds the game will indicate a generally good move for you to make.
This game really is a fantastic mesh of puzzle and rpg elements and is one of those games that is worth picking up a system for. I played this game pretty much 3 days straight (thank you stomach flu) and found it very hard to put down each time. It's one of those games that is worth picking up a system to play on. But best of all is that this is one of the cheaper priced games out there coming in at $29.99 for the DS version.
Again 5 out of 5.
I guess I should put in a counter point. Even though this game combines Puzzles and RPG elements at it's heart it is a Puzzle game. So if you aren't that big into puzzle games - or really hate bejeweled (though it doesn't really feel like bejeweled with the spells and combat aspects). You probably won't have as much fun with this game. While the game does point out moves for you to make playing that way constantly really means you aren't playing the game.
I found out that there probably is a PC version in the works - though no time line as yet.
However there is a PC demo you can download and play from here
http://www.gamedaily.com/canvases/gd/_a/download-puzzle-quest-demo/2007031510100 9990002
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is a game that combines puzzles and quests (aka the RPG element). It's available on both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. The PSP version has a bigger screen and I've heard has slightly better controls using the D-pad instead of the stylus (I'll get to that). However the PSP version has a bug were your companion's abilities don't work.
The game world is based around the PC Game Warlords and certain creatures and places may be familiar to some people. When you start out the game you pick from 1 of 4 character types, Druid, Knight, Warrior, Wizard. Each has a 4 male/female portraits to choose from (a nice touch in this kind of game) and a random name gen or you can put in your own. Each class has a selection of powers and skills that develop differently and surprisingly I found made quite an impact on how the game plays.
The story is pretty linear and doesn't change as far as I can tell between the characters and your choices don't really have an impact on the story either so replay value may diminish over time but that doesn't take away from the game at all.
The game plays out as your character working his/her way up in the world and becoming a warlord yourself. You do this by first doing quests for various people and later on by exploring ruins and conquering cities. The game world is presented by a map that gets populated with places as you progress through the game. As you level up you develop your skills and learn new spells.
Typical quests are deliver a message, kill this person, search this dungeon etc... Fairly standard RPG stuff. On top of that you can build up your characters's skills, powers and equipment. Plus collect companions and different mounts a long the way. Additionally you can build up your own citadel and conquer other cities which then means you have to deal with potential riots and other situations. You can also collect runes and make your own magic items as well as learn spells from various creatures that you have captured. You can also train your mounts to increase their abilities. You also have the ability to just fight creatures of your choice or other players via multi-player at any time. Basically it's a pretty solid and well built Warlords style experience that offers a lot of potential for people that love to collect things.
Now the puzzle element. Every conflict is handled by a puzzle game. The standard combat which is the meat of this game is handled through a game like bejeweled. You and your opponent make moves back and forth on the same grid. As you line up 3 or more of the same icon different things happen. 1st there are 4 different types of mana (Fire, Wind, Water, Earth), then you have Gold, Experience and Skulls. To defeat your opponent you have to kill them by lowering their hit points to 0.
To do that you can match Skulls, for ever 3+ skulls you match you do a number of hit points of damage. You can also collect enough mana to power your various spells that do direct damage or modify how much damage you do by matching skulls. Additionally you collect items that can boost your damage as well as many other aspects of the game. Your skills also play a roll in how effective each symbol is for you. If you match 4 or more symbols you get to go again (which is a major advantage) 5 or more earns you wild cards. Start off a chain reactions and you can get multiple effects. A big enough chain reaction and you collect a hero bonus of +100 xp.
Other challenges are handled by variations of the combat game. Creating an item for example requires you to match a fixed number of forges (based on the difficulty of the item) together and if you run out of matches you have to start over. Learning a spell requires you to match a set number of different mana and scrolls together. Training a mount requires you to battle an increasingly tougher version of that mount as at each level at a decreasing time limit. Capturing a creature requires you to clear the board of all combinations. The good thing is that in most cases if you fail you can simply try again. However in some situations in the story a death will result in slightly different out comes - though the story will progress.
The DS version uses the stylus to click your pieces on the board and there were a few times where it mistook the choice I was trying to make. I do wish that you could alternate to the D-Pad on the DS version for that reason. But the stylus is certainly faster then moving the D-Pad around. I've read a couple reviews complaining that the DS version was hard to read. But I haven't found that to be the case at all. The graphics are fantastic and every symbols is differentiated by colour and a marking. I guess the green/yellow mana types are slightly hard to pick a part but it's a minor thing. Also if you are stumped and wait a few seconds the game will indicate a generally good move for you to make.
This game really is a fantastic mesh of puzzle and rpg elements and is one of those games that is worth picking up a system for. I played this game pretty much 3 days straight (thank you stomach flu) and found it very hard to put down each time. It's one of those games that is worth picking up a system to play on. But best of all is that this is one of the cheaper priced games out there coming in at $29.99 for the DS version.
Again 5 out of 5.
I guess I should put in a counter point. Even though this game combines Puzzles and RPG elements at it's heart it is a Puzzle game. So if you aren't that big into puzzle games - or really hate bejeweled (though it doesn't really feel like bejeweled with the spells and combat aspects). You probably won't have as much fun with this game. While the game does point out moves for you to make playing that way constantly really means you aren't playing the game.
I found out that there probably is a PC version in the works - though no time line as yet.
However there is a PC demo you can download and play from here
http://www.gamedaily.com/canvases/gd/_a/download-puzzle-quest-demo/2007031510100 9990002
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