An RPG and puzzle hybrid that is really worth your time.
Game play (8 / 10)
The core essence of any game no doubt lie in its game play, and Puzzle Quest succeeds in most parts. Whenever I play this game, I can feel a strong connection between this and the collectable card game known as Magic: The Gathering. It can be surprising to see how various strategies can be applied to the Bejeweled framework.
Essentially, there are 7 different types of pieces that filled in an 8x8 grid in a typical game. The objective is to match three or more similar pieces together in a horizontal or vertical fashion by swapping two adjacent pieces at once. Scoring a four-in-a-row grants you a free turn while a five-in-a-row, in addition to the free turn, spawns a wildcard. Succeeding in matching these pieces can either grant you with mana, experience, gold or even damage your opponent.
A large variety of spells are available for each of the four different character classes in the game. They can affect your opponent directly, give yourself bonuses or have an adverse effect on the game board itself. You can strategise your moves such that your enemy does not get access to the mana that he or she requires or prevent damage to yourself. However, this is where the game reveals its flaws.
I had once imagined what would have been a ridiculous idea of a game – an MMORPG where everything has a factor of "chance" applied to it. It seems that the folks at Infinite Interactive has created something that goes as close as it could to that.
Randomness is through the roof in Puzzle Quest, and so much so that it hurts the game a lot at times. When players play games, they want to have fun. The sheer scale of how random everything is almost tips to the point of absurdity. You or your opponent can randomly get an extra turn for matching just a three-in-a-row, which is silly at times. It also doesn't feel fair or fun when the mana that you desperately require refuse to spawn or when life-taking skulls line up nicely for your opponent again and again.
Occasionally, it would bring a smile to anyone's faces to see four-in-a-rows appear repeatedly without break. At other times, you can also be driven to the point of insanity when you lose all of a sudden - even if you had a considerable lead on your opponent - just because he or she went on a lucky streak. If less luck was factored into the game, it would have made tactics much more viable. The only exception to this is when you are capturing creatures. Instead of a randomly regenerating board, you are given a fixed board which you have to clear all the pieces and those are the ones which are truly "puzzles".
Looking past these pricking flaws, one could still enjoy the game as long as he or she is patient and does not take the game too seriously. The sheer customisability and depth in character development is what makes the game so addictive. Your enemies have exclusive spells which you can learn after meeting certain requirements. Mounts, which are tamed beasts you can ride on, also provides you with enhancements – you can even train them.
By collecting runes, items can also be forged. The best of all, the bonuses on the items you forge are completely decided by you and it is often a very good way to raise vital statistics to fit your playing style.
Graphics: (7 / 10)
While the graphics in this game does not win any awards, it does its job fairly well enough. The characters and the main game board look clean and there are no blemishes or performance issues. The only improvement that could have been made is on the world-map view, which looks too simple and could have been better.
Sound: (7 / 10)
The sound in the game does a very good job of not being annoying, which is a good thing. The music is also in the same league as the sound, but has an occasional hiccup, awkwardly changing or replaying in the middle of a track. Either way, the music is bearable, although after long hours of listening you most probably would want to opt for your personal favourites.
Replayability: (10 / 10)
Puzzle Quest has a charming quality in its depth and expansiveness that makes it worthwhile that can make you want to play it all over again, either to see your different decisions affect the outcome of the storyline or to train all of the character classes, which can last for hundreds of hours.
Value: (9 / 10)
For less than half the price of full-priced games, Puzzle Quest is a great deal for the long lasting value it could potentially give you. However, for puzzle enthusiasts who would rather not be bothered by RPG elements. Bejeweled is free to play online already.
Buy or not?
Buy. It is a great game that will easily appeal to many people, young and old. But beware of its dangerously addictive side-effects.