Dynafire has 132 chronicles

1. Puzzle Quest
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Sep 29 2008

   More like Puzzle Crack, really. This is essentially just a puzzle game much like columns, where you match 3 or more like gems, they break, and new ones take their place.
   
   Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords builds on this pretty simple formula, and in a pretty unique way. The different gems represent different colored mana, gold, experience, and damage. You have green, red, yellow, and blue gems for mana, gold coins as gold, purple stars represent experience, and skulls will deal damage to your opponent when matched. Matching 4 or 5 gems will increase the effects of the matched gems, and give you an extra turn. With luck, you can take many turns and wipe the floor with your opponent. With mana, you have the ability to cast various spells, which can do anything from change gems to other kinds of gems on the board, to healing you, or dealing damage or inflicting negative status on your enemy. You win by reducing your opponent's HP to zero. If you lose, there really isn't any penalty, which I like. You just get kicked back to the map screen, where you can attempt the battle again.
   
   You also have access to various weapons, armor, and accessories that do things that can manipulate the board, protect you from damage, or resist certain elements. Most store-bought items become useless as you progress in the game, but that's okay, since you can craft your own. As soon as you construct a forge, you are able to go out and hunt for runes. There are 3 types of runes; base, modifier, and power. By combining different runes, you can make weapons and accessories that are almost always better than anything you can buy. This is done through a mini game that plays a lot like normal battles, but the object is to remove a certain number of "hammer and anvil" symbols from the board. The better the item, the more symbols you have to match.
   
   In addition to the forge, there are other things you can add to your "citadel" or home base, that allows you to capture enemies, learn spells from them, take over towns to get more gold, and obtain and train mounts.
   
   Now for the bad stuff.
   
   In all honesty, you could pretty much play the demo, and that would be like the whole game. There is no variance in the gameplay whatsoever, and it can get monotonous if you play a lot of it in one sitting.
   
   The computer is also notoriously cheap at times, and there have been many instances where the F-bomb has been dropped, such as a game I just played where I was dealt about 80 damage before I had taken my first turn. Then there are times where they will take seemingly endless turns, while you just sit there and wait to be obliterated.
   
   The music is another not-so-strong point of the game. There are only a handful of different tracks that play during battles, and I almost always have to play with the music turned off, because it tends to give me a headache. PQ is awesome when you play Megadeth or a Final Fantasy soundtrack over it though!
   
   Overall, the game is fun to play, even if you aren't into the RPG genre. As an RPG, the story isn't the best, and it is terribly cliche, but it's still enough to hold your interest. As a puzzle game, its a fun game that will keep you entertained for a good, long time. At 800MSP, it is worth it, plus I believe it is also available (or will soon become available) on all other platforms. I own it for the PS2 as well as 360, and if you have the choice, get the 360 version. The PS2 version looks absolutely terrible by comparison, and the 360 version is actually cheaper too.

   
   

   ---

   Send To A Friend

Dynafire has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. BEN
   Posted On Sep 28 2008

   Great video game review! I'll go ahead and Digg this one too. You're a XBL Arcade buff lately, haha.
   
   Like we discussed, I enjoy the puzzle games, but usually only for the handhelds because they good at wasting time
   
   26/100