Puzzle Quest: At least 11 kinds of awesome

Submitted by SecretLemur on October 16, 2007 - 2:53pm.

Attention Kept: At least 10 hours, more to come

Will I play it again: again and again and again

Title: Puzzle Quest

Release Date: October 10, 2007

Developer: Infinite Interactive

Publisher: D3

Puzzle Quest is a deceptively simple RPG set in the Warlords universe. The thing that differentiates Puzzle Quest from just about every other RPG in existence is the method of combat resolution: it uses a series of gem matching puzzles. Surprisingly, this means that combat is less random than in your standard RPG which uses, well, random numbers where PQ uses random numbers plus skill.

That's all you need to know. So, stop reading this, crank up your 360 and go download it from Xbox Live! In addition to the XBLA demo, there's a PC demo available as well, and it turns out you can buy a digital download of the PC version here. Or you can get it from Amazon.

There are at least 11 kinds of awesome in Puzzle Quest. Here are the first 11:

One: Easy to play, difficult to master. Because PQ provides little in the way of consequences when you lose, losing a round of combat isn't a big deal. So those who don't bother to read the rules or learn how to use spells or use any of the other features can still have fun and occasionally win.

Two: No load times! I hate load times. PQ doesn't have em. Yay!

Three: You can forge your own items. There are runes all over the place which you have to fight monsters for. These runes let you make new weapons and armor and stuff.

Four: You get a mount. There are a number of capturable creatures that can be ridden. You don't really go any faster, but they each provide benefits to the player. The Giant Rat, for example, provides you with a nasty Rabid Bite spell.

Five: PQ gives gem matching a purpose. Now, each gem you match will do one of 4 things: give you mana, hurt the enemy, give you XP or give you cash. Mana is how you cast spells, so there's a fair amount of strategy involved. Do I go for the 8 points of damage or do I go for the x8 mana bonus block?

Six: You get a castle! In fact, you can get many castles by laying seige upon them. Captured castles give you money. They also let you do castle related things without going all the way home.

Seven: You can put all kinds of stuff in your castle. A forge, a temple, a dungeon, a mage tower, a stable and something else I can't remember. These let you make items, learn spells, capture enemies, research spells and ride critters, respectively.

Eight: Cheapness! Even though it's one of the more expensive XBLA titles coming in at 1200 points, it's still a super value and 1200 points is only like $15. The DS version will still cost you at least $20, maybe $30.

Nine: Zombies! It's got zombies, and everyone like to bash zombie heads, right? Bashing zombie heads is so much fun that even other zombies do it.

Ten: There's a demo for both PC and Xbox360. So, you can experience the other kinds of awesomeness without spending a penny.