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Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords challenges players to create, develop and customize the ultimate hero in order to save the land of Etheria from evil Lord Bane. To advance their character, players battle in turn-based, head-to-head “match-three” style puzzle games in one of three gameplay modes. Single-player allows gamers to battle against the AI as they embark on over 150 quests. Instant Action allows gamers to jump in and immediately play continuous battles to level-up characters without participating in quests. Multiplayer allows gamers to battle live opponents– victory will advance the player’s hero, magical arsenal, creature companions and more, ultimately rewarding gamers at nearly every turn.

Genre: Puzzle

Publisher: D3 Publisher

Developer: Infinite Interactive

Online Play: 2 Versus

Local Play: 2 Versus

October 11, 2007 –
Oh, Puzzle Quest. What did we do to deserve you? When you arrived on our DS and PSP earlier this year we thought, “Man, the only thing that would make this game better would be achievements and online play.” D3 Publisher, emboldened (perhaps a little surprised?) by the game’s success, quickly made plans to port the game to consoles and PC, and our wish was granted. Puzzle Quest on XBLA plays identically to the PSP version with a couple enhancements. It’s a bit more expensive than most Arcade games (1200 Microsoft Points, or $15), but it might also be the deepest experience available on the service.

Casual gamers have their Bejeweled, and hardcore players have their RPGs. Long have the two groups been content to remain separate and play their respective games. But the folks at D3 and developer Infinite Interactive have begun a socialization experiment that is finding gamers from both camps playing the same game. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords attempts to marry characteristics of traditional RPGs with the pick-up-and-play mechanics of a casual puzzle game — and succeeds.

All the usual suspects of classic RPGs are here: players select a character from a roster of different classes of knights, druids, and wizards; set out on quests; slay monsters; and collect experience points. Unlike most RPGs, though, battles in Puzzle Quest are played out on the Bejeweled field. If you haven’t played the PopCap game, Bejeweled is a gem-matching puzzle game where you flip two adjacent pieces at a time in order to create matching rows of three or more jewels. As you create matches, they disappear and more spill in creating new match-making opportunities. There have been many variations on this simple, addictive formula, but Puzzle Quest is the first we know of to mix in fantasy art and deep RPG mechanics.

Attack your opponent’s family jewels.During battles, players go head-to-head against an enemy who is playing off the same field as you. You and your opponent take turns, so your move can end up being beneficial to the enemy’s or vice versa. The four different colors of gems (red, blue, yellow, green) represent different types of mana. As you clear the field and build your reserves of each type, you can spend your mana in different combinations to cast both offensive and defensive spells. If you manage to clear four jewels at once, you’ll receive an additional turn. Clear five and you’ll receive the extra turn and a wild card will appear that can be used as any color of mana and multiplies the amount you receive. Skulls are peppered throughout the play field, and can be used to attack your opponent when cleared. The battle will rage on until one of the side’s hit points are reduced to zero. Luckily, if you lose, you retain all the experience you collected during the match — a feature that keeps Puzzle Quest from becoming frustrating.

It wouldn’t be much of an RPG if you couldn’t improve your character’s stats and outfit him or her with all sorts of stylish gear. Along with all the gems and skulls on the puzzlefield are gold pieces and experience stars. As you travel about the world map, each town has a shop selling weapons and armor. Some items require you to reach a certain level before use, however, which is where the experience stars come in handy. While you initially receive the same amount of mana/experience/gold as gems you clear (three to five pieces), leveling up your character’s stats will result in bonuses in each of those areas.

Those are the basics of Puzzle Quest’s gameplay, but as you make your way through the game you’ll realize that there is a lot more depth to be explored. You can expand your hometown citadel with additions like dungeons, towers, and stables. Each expansion grants you new abilities: once you have a dungeon you can capture your enemies; once you have a stable you can train captured monsters as mounts; once you have a mage tower you can learn spells from enemies. You can lay siege to other castles and bring them into the fold of your kingdom. A siege is handled on the field of puzzle, but castles will have much greater hit points than most monsters. Defeat the castle in battle, and its citizens will begin paying their taxes directly to you.

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