Puzzle Quest (DS)

How deep can a puzzle game be? Deep enough to have me hoarding red mana so I can cast Enrage, which gives me a bonus to my battle stat, and then cast Berzerker Rage, which turns all the red gems on the field to skulls [and doesn’t end my turn if my red mana is greater than 15], so I can burn down the last few HP of the castle I’m attacking. Why did I lay siege to that poor kingdom? Because when you capture a town, it pays tribute to you once a month.

And from there, the game gets really deep.

I’m mad for this game—which says a lot since I am decidedly not a fan of the puzzle genre. Just watching someone play Bejeweled bores me to tears. However, Puzzle Quest weaves a wealth of RPG elements, like capturing foes to learn their spells, hunting runes to craft weapons, and training mounts so you can move faster and use new abilities, onto a fairly simple puzzle system. These additions make what could be a bland puzzle game into a truly unique and highly enjoyable experience.

My only complaint is that the DS version suffers due to the system’s graphical limitations. Sometimes the effects that accompany jewel matches look a little glitchy and, though it’s a rare occurrence, my enthusiasm combined with the small touch screen occasionally lead to unintentional or incorrect moves. However, the stylus controls still feel good enough that I’d hate to give them up for a d-pad based scheme.

While it was tough to find the first week of release, Puzzle Quest should be easier to find now. If you enjoy either RPGs or puzzles in the least, definitely buy this one. At $29.99, you get a huge bang for your buck.

[299 words--just under the wire!]