Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

"The Jewel is Mightier than the Sword!"

Face to face with a giant rat with only a puny dagger in your hand, you do the only thing any sane man would do in the same situation: line up 4 skull tiles in a row - Pwned! Is this madness?! No, THIS IS PUZZLE QUEST!!!

Visuals - 5
Sound & Music - 5
Gameplay - 7
Controls - B
Longevity - B (10-15 hours for main quest completion)
Replayability - A
Difficulty - Medium (adjustable though)

Bejeweled + RPG - 8
VERDICT - 7.0

Choose-your-own-puzzle
If you are not familiar with the popular puzzle game Bejeweled then where have you been all of these years?! After being released as an internet browser game in 2001, it has since amassed legions of soft and hardcore players from all over the globe. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is pretty much another game of Bejeweled, but with a couple of borrowed elements that are normally exclusive to RPGs: a wordy narrative, a large variety of different spells and direct attacks, a levelling up system, and the ability to customise your party as you see fit - they all help to make this quest more much more involving than your typical no-frills puzzle game.

But this is still Bejeweled no matter how you look at it, and if you didn't feel much for it before, whether it be on PC, PDA, Xbox Live Arcade or MSN, nothing's changed here.

DoeS it Play StuPendously?
The DS version offers up stylus controls that mimic the original mouse & cursor interface much better than than the PSP's buttons could ever do. However, even with this advantage there is still some slight 'stickiness' when it comes to sliding tiles which makes the gameplay not as fluid as it could have been. The dual screen property is used well to show all your vital stats up top, whilst you have full control over the puzzle grid and your spells down below.

Graphically we all already know that the DS hardware is no match for PSP, but it hurts to see how much worse this version is compared to its brother from another mother. Whereas in PSP's quest we get to see the spell effects deal damage to the opposition or destroy selected puzzle pieces with sparkles of lightning or a roar of flames, little DS makes do with simply a bassy thump and nothing to show for. I doubt that this puzzle game took that big of a toll on this 'next-gen' portable..

Which leads me to thinking that the developers got more than a bit lazy with this conversion. The RPG elements are there if you want to use them, but it isn't really necessary to know the ins and outs of everything in order to smite the mightiest dragon; as long as you know how to line up 4 or 5-in-a-rows and have 1 or 2 offensive spells you'll ride your merry way until the end. This may make Puzzle Quest open to a broader audience, but spending ages building up enough experience to earn a new skill or weapon, knowing that it doesn't give you that much of an advantage, makes the whole thing more like a waste of time. Luckily playing a good game of Bejeweled is a fun time-waster.

Domination
What happens once you've buffed up your hero so much so that all games versus the enemy AI last under a minute? Here's where it stumbles even more. Sure you have got wireless battles to duel with friends who happen to also own their own copy of the game, but Puzzle Quest for the DS was practically begging for WiFi online campaigns, duels and wars! How awesome would it have been if we were able to set up guilds and play a real-time puzzle cum RPG versus countless others? It may come about next time, but this was a golden missed opportunity right here right now.

As for the quest itself, the story is filled with a lot of Dungeons & Dragons-esque dialogue which I frankly find boring. The dead are threatening the land of the Queen and you've got to put a stop to it, or something like that. You move you hero around the huge overworld map (full of too much empty space..) and engage in roadside combat, dungeon thrashings, or more formal arena battles if you feel like it. It all pretty much comes to the same thing though: a game of Bejewelled where you have to bring down the enemy's HP through meticulously planning of lined-up gems, strategic spells, or sheer random luck. The spell system is more in-depth than you would initially imagine, but its full use only really comes out when battling with other human opponents; the AI is either too stupid or too cheap when it comes to playing properly.

You can make many friends during your travels and they are able to lend a hand to you by boosting certain abilities or stats. You are also able to capture mounts to allow you to cross the wide expanses quicker, and again they confer bonuses to your stats. You can even siege cities so that so gain gold every time you pass through. Do they make much of a difference though? I think you know the answer already.

Not an RPG... phew!
The beauty of Puzzle Quest lies in its simplicity. It's a game that you can play in bite-sized portions, yet still develop your character in the long haul. If you have more time to spend, you can dedicate yourself to the finer customisable attributes available and partake in the large amount of optional side quests (games which end with you gaining a new item). If you love Bejeweled you'll love Puzzle Quest, but if you don't then I dunno..

7.0/10 - Accessible to all, but how much Bejeweled can you handle?

My Score System – a score of 7 from me denotes a good, solid game. Excellence earns a higher grade, whilst 4-6 reflects a below average product; glitchy, unplayable games deserve less.

25/04/07 - @ breaking point for the last 3 days...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/07