Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords PSP Review

I will make this easy for you, if you are into RPG’s or puzzle games like Bejeweled then give Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords developed by Infinite Interactive and published by D3 for just about every newer systemavailable (the version reviewed here is for the Playstation Portable). If you are not into puzzle games or RPG’s then PQ may be a little lost on you (then again, it may be the title that gets you hooked on them and what I call “competition Bejeweled” games, of which there aren’t many).
You pick between several different characters and four different classes (which determine what your character will

be good at by default). You get the usual classes for fantasy games, Warrior (great with physical attacks), Wizard (magic users extraordinaire), Knight (more capable than a warrior a using the gems for defense) and Druid (magic users but more defensive than wizards). Just like Bejeweled and the few hundred copies of it, gameplay here is only slightly more complicated than you will be used to. If you’re an RPG’er then you will be at home with the spell choosing, levelling up and other RPGish things you will be doing, you will be lost when it comes to combat though as you will have to shine up your match 3 abilities as much as your weapons here.

The RPG elements are very well setup for the newb (when you buy a new weapon it asks would you like to equip now) and there are advanced options for more experienced gamers here too (you have full customization of your weapons and armor so you can switch things around based on our style). You start out with just a basic character with very little skills, though what you have are geared toward your choice of class, at a castle and are sent off on some basic missions to meet various people, escort this person, return that artifact, the usual. Later on into the game, you will start receiving multiple quests (you can keep up to four running quests with varying levels of completion in your log book before you have to start completing them to get more).
Playing Bejeweled against an opponent is something that is different in it’s own right and is accomplished quite well, though it is still something that most match 3 gamers will be surprised by. You have to match at least 3 tiles from the 5 different ones that make up the playfield. Colored tiles each represent different mana (used for spell casting), green is earth, blue is water, yellow is air and red is representing fire. Purple star tiles earn you experience (don’t worry RPGer’s, you still earn experience for beating your opponent, if you lose, you walk away with whatever you get during the match). Skull tiles are one way to attack your opponent, and vice versa. There are two types of skulls, normal, which do 1 point of damage (in addition to stat augmentors you may have available from weapons and armor) and then there are the ultra powerful +5 skulls that do, as their name suggests, 5 points of damage and they destroy tiles within one space
of them in all directions. Wildcards are extremely helpful in that they multiplythe colored gems they are matched with by the number on the wildcard.
There are also options to buy buildings for your citedel (basically the main castle) where you can capture enemies (after you have beaten a certain type of creature three times in combat and have the proper building), forge new weapons (if you take on rune quests at certain locations where you fight a powered up creature). If forging a new item or learning a new spell you are required to play a single player battle but you have to complete different objectives like removing a certain number of anvils and hammers or potions depending on what your going for. The difficulty is decided by the power of the weapon or spell you’re attempting to create.
The sounds are wonderful, with period type music playing in the background, many sound samples during gameplay and even a fully voiced narrative when you begin or end a chapter in the game. Infinite Interactive went all out on the basic qualities for Puzzle Quest, Vicious Cycle brought it to PSP and added more effects than there are in the Nintendo DS edition.
Graphics on the PSP version are pretty nice, attack and you get lightning bolts, little animations like particle effects are abound and when you hit your first 5 combo (not match 5, but have 5 matches one after the other) happen and hear “Heroic Effort” and see it on the screen it will have you hooked and you will begin to look for these combos. That is when you know you are hooked.
If you missed Puzzle Quest: Challeng of the Warlords in it’s first run then by all means pick it up in any of it’s many forms (it was on PS2, Xbox Live, DS, PSP, PSN for PSP and PS3 and PC and I am sure on something I missed like a myriad of cellphones).

9 out of 10
Version reviewed: D3 Publisher for PSP
Date Released: 2007
Review by TriVerse