Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Review(DS)
My Impressions
When this came out no stores seemed to carry it. I had to order it off Amazon, and even they didn’t have it in stock. Thankfully, mid summer the game had a renaissance and stores started stocking it. (Who decides what games to carry anyway? They don’t do a very good job in my experience.)
It was recently re-released for xBox live. Playing the demo made me want to check up on my DS character again. Maybe, in my absence, she had saved the fair prince in distress. (Yes, that’s right, I said Prince!)
The first time around I was completely entranced with the game. I heard it was good, but still didn’t quite know what to expect. Enjoying it as much as I did was a pleasant surprise.
What amazed me most about this game was that at its core it’s a fairly standard turn based RPG. It almost gave me warm final fantasy nostalgia.
The class that I picked had stats and inventory. Leveling increased those stats and items enhanced my character’s abilities. New spells were learned at specific levels and some could also be learned off enemy monsters.
Mounts could be caught and trained. There was even an option to craft some items.
The main story line was quite entertaining, with loads of intrigue, saving of damsels, and vanquishing foes. Along with that quest line, there were quite a few side quests that were completely optional and repeatable. (I tend to be the sort of person that has to finish every single quest there ever was.)
There were even wandering monsters along the paths that took you from town to town. That’s quite an accomplishment for a mere puzzle game.
Really it has all the classic RPG ingredients.
The one thing that sets it apart is that combat, and any real skill test, is determined by a grid filled with gems.
In combat you are pitted against your foe taking turns matching gems. It plays very much like the game Bejeweled.
The color of the gems that you match up gives you that color of mana to use for spells. Skulls do damage, stars give you extra experience, and coins get you money.
Skill checks range from having to collect a certain amount of mana of each color, to having to clear the entire grid of gems.
This is quite an entertaining way to do combat – battle of the mind so to speak. It’s a fairly self-regulating accumulation of mana verses damage.
It’s a neat little package of a game, quite ingenious.
I was really hoping for more warm fuzzy feelings when I revisited my character. Enjoyment was had, but I failed to get fuzzed.
Review
Release date: March 20th 2007
Website: http://www.puzzle-quest.com/
Developer: Infinite Interactive
Platform I played on: DS and xBox live (demo version)
Game Summery
Pick from one of four classes to defeat the evil infecting this lovely world. Quest, craft, rescue like many traditional RPGs, but when it comes to combat and research succeeding depends on puzzle solving.
Game play
As I said already, this is actually a pretty standard RPG with the heart of a puzzle game. Most of the action in the game takes place in the gem battle grid.
At the beginning you are given four different classes to chose from; Druid, Knight, Warrior, Wizard. Each class has a different set of abilities and mana focus.
One thing that I appreciated is that they give you a portrait option, and they have quite a few female choices.
Combat is a turn based gem puzzle. Some spells affect the board, but these can sometime do more damage then good.
If you get really stuck, and can’t find any gems to match up, the computer gives you a hint. It waits a polite fifteen seconds before it helps out. I have to say though that it doesn’t always make very good suggestions.
One aspect that I haven’t mentioned is that the character has a citadel that he can upgrade. This opens up crafting, mounts, spell research, and buyable skill improvements.
You can also besiege cities and bring them under your rule. The game is subtitled Challenge of the Warlords. Need to have vassals to lord over to become a true Warlord.
If you don’t feel like questing you can choose to battle specific monsters or have the computer throw a bunch of monsters at you at random. This gives you a way of leveling up your characters without the pesky questing.
World and Story
A legion of undead is threatening to overrun the world of Etheria. Adventurers are called upon to save the good and vanquish the evil. The quests lead the weary adventurer along a path to discover more of the world and subsequently how to deal with the invasion.
This is a land rife with magic and politics, elves and trolls. All in all this is pretty standard high fantasy story material.
Here is a map that sums up the world really well: http://www.infinite-interactive.com/puzzlequest/map/
Graphics
This game isn’t really about graphics. The overhead map is hand drawn, there are minimal animations, and the battle grid is filled with a bunch of gems. In fact the link above depicts the overhead map just how it is in the game.
The minimalist graphics don’t really matter; they probably afforded the developers the chance to create a much deeper game.
The graphics look good for what they are, but they are not the focus. This game is really strong in story and game play.
Replay ability
There are four different classes to try, but the story and quests don’t really change.
Multiplayer
Just like most games this is battle mode, not cooperative.
Game finished
My Wizard made level 20, and I played a druid and warrior to level ten-ish. The level limit for adventurers is fifty.
I might play a bit more here and there, and playing on the xBox is new. It’s quite entertaining to have forty inches of battle grid. Somehow I manage to find more four-in-a-rows.
Things that bothered me
-Wandering monsters don’t get easier
There were times that I just wanted to get from one town to the next but was waylaid for quite a while due to random wandering monsters along the way. They don’t seem to be avoidable and they turn up level appropriate to my current level.
Even in the starting area. Damn those leveling monsters!
-Combat doesn’t evolve
However much I love playing that gem matching game it did get boring after a while. I was hoping that with more spells, higher stats, and stronger abilities my character would become more effective. This would cut down the time spent in the gem game and would give me the feeling that my character was progressing.
I was looking for a more radical evolution then the game provided. The small changes didn’t assuage my inevitable gem boredom.
-Slow leveling
After level ten the leveling slows down quite a bit. This is in keeping with the standard RPG doctrine. After level twenty the new spells come every ten levels. I just don’t have the patience to wait around that long.
Time played
I averaged around 15 hours. 10 last summer and 5 this past two weeks.
Rating
Mood Progression
Last thoughts
Really the game probably deserves a four mushroom rating, but my ultimate boredom says otherwise. It’s still a great game that I plan to revisit say in six months – just enough time to forget. =D
Tags: adventure, ds, medieval, puzzle, roleplaying, turn-based
