Puzzle Quest

Posted Apr 6, 2007 by Doug Buel

Updated Apr 6, 2007 at 05:08 PM

System: Nintendo DS

Also available on: PC, Sony PSP

Publisher: D3

Reviewer’s rating: A+

ESRB rating: Everyone 10+

Game type: Role-playing and puzzle

Kind of like: Imagine “Bejeweled” combined with “Final Fantasy”

Best feature: Unlike most puzzle games, this one doesn’t get old, because you’re fighting different monsters and casting spells.

Worst feature: At first, it may seem a little confusing.

The bottom line: When we tell you about a role-playing fantasy saga in which you fight by playing a puzzle game, you may think that sounds a little absurd.

Trust us — it’s not. From time to time, someone comes along and busts a genre wide open. This is one of those times.

In “Puzzle Quest,” you play the part of a fantasy hero. You travel, undertaking dangerous missions, and you upgrade your character with the experience points you gain.

The thing is, you fight the monsters by playing what is basically “Bejeweled.”

Lining up matching gems by switching their positions causes the matched ones to vanish, scoring them. The different colors of gems give you different colors of “mana,” which can be used to cast spells that affect the playfield.

Monsters, meanwhile, are also matching gems and using spells and abilities against you. Spiders can use webs to make you miss turns, ogres can smash you, and so on.

There are different types of characters to play, each of whom have different spells. The druid, for example, can learn to evaporate blue gems into gold ones, burn a monster with a forest fire of red and green mana, or heal. There are also magical weapons and armor to find.