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DS | Puzzle | Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Boxart for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords 9 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.25
  • SOUND: 2.75
  • CONTROL: 3.50
  • FUN FACTOR 4.50
  • AVG USER SCORE 5.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.5
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Review by Tae Kim | 03/28/2007 | 16:30:21 PM PST

It's an established fact that some things are better when they're experienced together. Take peanut butter and jelly, for example. Or Axl Rose and Slash. See? The individual elements are good by themselves, but when paired with its corresponding partner, the resulting combination is a thousand times better.

Puzzle Quest does just that as it marries the simplistic and addictive gameplay of Bejeweled (the popular internet gem-matching flash game) to an RPG backbone, resulting in a delicious gaming concoction.

Warlord's Hoard

The Bejeweled-like gameplay involves swapping colored gems on a grid to make a matching set of at least three gems, which eliminates them from the board. If all Puzzle Quest had to offer was some crappy variant on this formula, I'd give the game a swift kick in its red light district and call it a day, but it's so much more than that.

Layered on top of this familiar concept is the RPG element that elevates it into the stratosphere. You choose from one of four classes (druid, knight, warrior, or wizard) and go romping around a map, battling enemies, and leveling yourself up. But instead of engaging foes with swords and shields, you challenge them to a round of Bejeweled.

Yeah, I know, it sounds lame on paper but trust me, it's pretty frickin' awesome. The colored gems are mana orbs that you eliminate from the board and add to your mana stores in order to cast offensive or defensive magic. There are also direct damage skulls, purple experience orbs, and gold to collect. You also have a stronghold, the Citadel, on which you build dungeons for capturing enemies, mage towers for researching spells, and a siege workshop to take over cities with.

It sounds like a messy stew of concepts, but it isn't. Again, this is where The Rule of Two comes into play: by itself, the gem matching portion would've gotten stale in no time, and the RPG element would have been exposed as the hackneyed and generic fare that it so is. But put the two together and somehow it works.

The game isn't perfect by any means--I won't go so far as to accuse the computer A.I. of cheating, but I have my suspicions as the touchscreen will sometimes misread your move. If you're a puzzle nut, then Puzzle Quest will probably keep you up way past your bedtime, muttering "Just one more match and I swear I'll turn it off."

But you know what? You probably won't.

Pros: Deep and engaging puzzle action with a heaping tablespoon of RPG elements on top. Should come with a warning label--it's that addictive.
Cons: Main story is weak. Controls are sometimes wonky. Computer A.I. displays some amazing "luck" at points.

For more reviews, check out GamePro.com's reviews index!


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