Xbox Live Arcade
Written by Antilochos

10.05.08

Score: A-

 

An orc appears, instinctive hatred burning in it's eyes. A thin trail of blood leading from the side of it's mouth indicates a fresh kill, yet still it hungers for flesh. Our dashing hero grimly dons his helmet and enchanted armour, strength filling his weary arms even with this simple act. Hefting his minotaur forged spear with the grim aire of one about to engage in a life and death struggle, he sets up the puzzle board...


Now, I'm going to write this review assuming you all know how the game's combat mechanic works. If you don't, I apologize. It's turn-based bejeweled, where colours are mana for your spells and skulls are damage. It makes more sense if you're actually playing it...

So Puzzle Quest is an RPG where the combat plays like Bejewled. This is, contrary to expectation, awesome. You set about fighting evil and freeing the land from an evil necromancer, Lord Bain, keeper of the cheapest strat in the game.

The whole script reads like 'generic fantasy by numbers'. It's not bad, per se, just bland. Vanilla. It's like if a fantasy plot is a blank canvas, they just wrote 'good versus evil' on it and put some bullshit about a necromancer and just kind of fudged the rest as they went along in monotone grey. You're Edward/Betty Nicerson and you're being good because to stop would be dishonorable and lazy, and you're fighting Lord Bain (Worst name since Darth Sidius or Darth Maul? Perhaps...) and Mechataur and whatever else who are evil because fuck it THEY'RE SO GODDAMN EVIL. It's like if you want a plot, go read a book, you queer. Plot just gets in the way of the Bejewled.


On the topic of Bejewled, it really is a good combat system. You can gain new spells by leveling up, capturing monsters (after upgrading your citadel with gold) and then researching those monsters (after upgrading your citadel with gold). Turn based bejewled can be tricky, but the right spells remove a touch of the dumb luck element. Spells which do damage, sure, but also spells which take an enemy's turn, or destroy a certain type of gem or something. The harder you work at capturing enemies, the better equipped you'll be. My favourite was 'stomp! : Destroy all green gems in play. Your enemy loses a turn'. Vicious...
 

That said, the computer in this game has those spells too, and can indeed be a touch cheap. Much like C'n'C Zero Hour, each class and each enemy type has it's own distinct strategy and challenge. Mana resistences, cheap-ass moves and such, and ontop of that a very skewed version of 'random chance' built into the game's mechanic means you're always on your toes. Bosses are like extra cheap with a bit more HP than normal.

Surprisingly often the computer will match three of whatever and the three new gems in play will ALL BE SKULLS. Wham! Damage. Or your move will set your opponent up for a four in a row at the top of the board against incredible odds. Having to take this into account keeps things fresh, but is fucking annoying. It's like "When Random Change attacks!". Fear not though, you also get these breaks.


In summary, like my hero Yahtzee, I'm being deliberately overly negative, assuming you'll want to read the summary. Despite it's tendancy towards cheap bullshit and it's bland plot, you'll want to keep playing Puzzle Quest. You'll want to become more powerful, acquiring more spells and runes. You'll want to forge better armor and overcome those challenges because bejewled as a combat system is fun and you'll want to complete the quests to get more of it.


Rating: Buy it. 800 MS points ( ~$14?)

Gamer points: 175

Play time: Ages. Seriously, this one took me months, on and off.


Next: A passionate defense of N +, and maybe another game I bought and now regret it because hateful reviews are entertaining.