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Believe the hype about this game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was initially skeptical regarding how fun this game might be. Fate would have it that I had a little time and money and wanted to a game for my DSL. This game caught my eye when searching GameSpot and I was intrigued on the possibility that this merging of genres might actually be fun... and boy am I glad that I picked up this little gem!

You can find plenty of reviews on the details of the gameplay and such elsewhere. I will just tell you that this game "WORKS" and is plenty of addictive fun for anyone; assuming that you at least like a game, such as bejeweled, at some basic level.

I will also mention that the DS version ONLY uses the stylus for gameplay. None of the buttons or D-pad work in this game. I had to get used to that at first, but I want to mention that this, too, works beautifully. In fact, there are higher level situations in this game that require you to solve puzzles against a timer; I don't see how this would be anything but frustrating if I had to use the D-pad to search through the grid vs. being able to just tap away with the stylus.

Beautiful game that is likely not to be readilly recognized by the gaming masses, purely a 10/10 in my opinion.

Combat Bejeweled

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'll be the first to admit I bought this game because it's been impossible to find a Bejeweled-type game for DS. (I tried the Disney Meteos game and didn't like it because it was so incredibly limited, and you couldn't save your place).

I cannot put this game down. My family is going to disown me. At first I found the fact that I was playing 2-person Bejeweled annoying ("He took the row I wanted!") and then realized it really adds a great new dimension to the game.

I do find the RPG portion of the game a little tedious, especially now that I'm at level 35 and there are SO many different places I'm supposed to visit.

I highly recommend this game, it's totally worth the price.

Breaking the mold, but predictably frustrating

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: April 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is obviously a fresh idea, combining a role-playing game experience (which usually involves fairly uninteresting combat mechanics) and a casual-style puzzle game (very similar to Bejeweled). You create your character by picking one of four classes (druid, wizard, warrior, knight), each of which has different specializations. You then set off on a series of adventures, traveling around an increasingly expansive landscape, visiting new points of interest, and receiving new quests (up to four active quests at one time).

When combat takes place (which is pretty frequent, and largely the point of the game) the view switches from the map to the puzzle board, which is a grid of tiles of various types. Most of the tiles are colored dots, although there are also gold coins, purple stars and skulls. The object is to take turns with your opponent, trying to swap two adjacent tiles to line up 3, 4 or 5 matching tiles (even better if you can set up a combination or cascade of matches). Matching same-colored dots gives you mana of that color, which can be accumulated and used for spells or special attacks. Lining up gold coins puts money in your character's coin purse, purple stars give experience points used to level up, and skulls do damage to your opponent. The bigger the line, the bigger the effect (more mana, more damage, etc.).

As you gain experience, you level your character up by spending your earned skill points in different skills that have a variety of effects on future combats. You can spend your gold buying new equipment, or improving your home citadel with buildings like a Dungeon, which allow you to eventually capture creatures and learn their spells and abilities, or a Stable which allows you to train captured creatures to be mounts that you can ride.

The interface is very simple, just like any DS game. Everything is done with the stylus, and you can hold one of the shoulder buttons to swap screens at any time. The graphics on the map screen are necessarily small and not very detailed, but the other graphics in the game are very nice, and the music is typical of the Japanese RPG genre like Final Fantasy.

The only real downside to this game is that it can be extremely frustrating at times because the computer is naturally far superior to the human ability to process the entire board and always seems to put together massive combos that I could never have found without spending 10 minutes every turn trying to plan out my move and maximize my gains. The computer also seems to get incredibly "lucky" with the new tiles that drop down when it makes its play... they always seem to get an extra match or a nice cascade that you would never expect because you can't see what tiles will drop to fill in the board... but I bet the computer knows. It also seems like the hint that comes up if you wait long enough without taking a move suggests the move that sets up the computer's next turn, rather than what would most help you. I tend to take the hinted move as an option of last resort. The computer basically NEVER makes a mistake, and sometimes it seems like it makes the first move of the game and already has you at a huge disadvantage, down 20% of your hitpoints and the only move you can make is something that will set the computer up for another devastating attack. This tends to rob the game of some fun, knowing that the computer is always going to make a play that gives the maximum possible effect, even if it's not remotely obvious to you how the combo comes together.

The best thing is, this is a game my wife can enjoy as much as me, even if it's for different reasons... I like the RPG aspect, and she likes puzzle games like Bejeweled, so this is like buying two games in one that we can both enjoy.

Entertaining but too easy

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Seeing that there are quite a few reviews on this game already Ill summarize mine as much as possible:

I own 2 videogame stores and have played games forever, my best genres are puzzle, strategy and rpg. I have played a lot of Tetris and Advance Wars to name a couple.

Why did I buy this game?
- Because it was a puzzle/rpg game with good reviews for the DS

Basicaly you take turns with your opponent to join 3 (or more) same-type symbols and you get either:
- Red Mana (for spells)
- Blue Mana (for spells)
- Green Mana (for spells)
- Yellow Mana (for spells)
- Gold (to buy in shops)
- Experience (to level up)
- Deal damage to opponent

Pros:
- Easy to learn
- Much more than a puzzle game
- Quick to jump into the action
- Combos!
- Computer plays fast and is not stupid
- Non-linear gameplay, go wherever you want on the map
- Four different classes to choose from: Druid, Warrior, Mage
- Two save slots
- You can have npc join your party

Cons:
- Too easy! My high lvl warrior has spells that kill anything, fast.
- Finished the game in about 8 days playing many hours a day
- Quests are boring (but hey, its a puzzle game remember)
- You have to be very careful with the stylus (sometimes it does something you didnt want to do)
- Lots of the items for sale are worthless
- npcs that join your party do not have much impact on the fights

Conclusion:
- Needs a "HARD" mode where the enemies could have double HP or something =)
- Theres plenty of space for improvement and I cant wait for Puzzle Quest II !!

Hybrid Theory

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

In the video game world, the puzzle genre and the RPG genre are like apples and oranges. Both are delicious fruits to be sure, yet they're two completely different genres. Certainly genres that no one thought could ever actually come together. Yet here stands Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords. A hybrid of the puzzle and RPG genre, and the hybrid works! Puzzle fans and RPG fans alike will absolutely love this game.

You'll start the game by choosing a profession. A warrior, druid, knight or something like that. And as you go through the game, you'll discover there are tons of RPG elements in play here. You'll traverse worlds, visit towns, collect items and equipment, and most important of all: you'll battle, and this is where Puzzle Quest truly shines.

The only puzzle game which comes to mind to compare this to is Bejeweled, a game several of you have probably played on your PC or cellphone several times over. You're given an 8x8 grid where you'll swap two tiles in order to get three of the same tile. When you match up three tiles the tiles will disappear and three more tiles will drop in to fill the void. If you've played bejeweled, it's exactly that. However, the color of the tiles represents something. The purple tiles, for example, are experience points. Each time you make three purple tiles disappear you'll gain additional experience points from the battle. Skull tiles deal damage. You've also got tiles that represent your mana, and when you take those tiles out you get more mana.

The way in which battles take place is really quite interesting. You and your opponent share the same board and will take turns to clear out the grid. Your goal, of course, should be to go after the skull pieces to deal damage, but it doesn't hurt to do other things as well. Red, blue, yellow and green tiles represent your mana, and each color pertains to a different spell. However, you'll want to snag these too to recharge your mana and cast spells. You'll want to go after the purple tiles for more experience, and after the Gold tiles to get more gold. This is much more than just trying to kill your enemy before he/she/it kills you. You'll also want to try and get more than three tiles at a time. Stringing together combos and getting rid of more than three tiles nets you an extra turn, and believe me, your computer opponents are no dummies, they will take advantage of this and kill you. It's surprisingly strategic, addictive, and of course, it wouldn't be a puzzle game without multiplayer, and the multiplayer matches against your friends are just as fun and addictive.

Yet the game never puts aside its RPG elements either. Puzzle quest is actually quite a lengthy quest. Complete with sidequests, optional bosses, characters that join your party and everything! Believe it or not, this game probably does span the length of an RPG. That means you could easily spend over fifty hours with this game. To keep its RPG elements in tact, you get experience points from each of the various battles you'll be in. When you level up, you get a chance to distribute points among your attributes. This means giving you a chance to increase things like your strength, HP or your mana skills.

Visually the game is quite impressive. The PSP counterpart looks better, of course, but the DS isn't so bad looking. The manga style artwork is beautiful. Sometimes its a little too easy to make a mistake on the DS version, though, mainly because you've got to use the stylus and more often than not you may tap the wrong piece. It's not too much of a burden, though, and the game still plays just fine. The 3D graphics and story sequences are also pretty good looking on the DS, as is the battlefield itself.

On paper it doesn't sound like a good idea to mix the RPG and puzzle genre together, but the final product is certainly a fantastic one. RPGers and puzzle gamers alike owe it to themselves to check the game out. This is more than just another purchase of bejeweled, it's a puzzle game with great RPG elements that keep it interesting for hours on end. A fantastic combination.

Pros:

+An interesting hybrid of puzzle and RPG elements that work
+Addictive and strategic gameplay
+The computer is not stupid
+Fun multiplayer experience
+Engaging quest
+Top notch graphics
+Top notch music
+Hours upon hours upon HOURS of gameplay
+The construction of the games elements (tiles representing mana, gold and so forth) is just so well done and put together and it makes for a far more interesting gaming experience

Cons:

-With the stylus controls you're bound to do something you don't want to do
-Sometimes the computer is unrelenting; thankfully, you're not penalized if you lose a battle!

The next best thing was actually even better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I probably wouldn't have heard about this game, except one night I decided to ask on a message board if Bejeweled had ever been released for the Nintendo DS. I thought if ever there was a game that was perfect for the touch screen it was Bejeweled. Somebody replied telling me about Puzzle Quest. I was a little unsure if I'd like a game that was similar but not exactly the same, but I decided to try it out. I guess I'm pretty lucky I found it in a store because I've since heard horror stories about it being hard to find. (though I could have bought it here) Anyway, I found I enjoyed this game even more than Bejeweled. I haven't played a single game of Bejeweled since I picked up Puzzle Quest. A fantastic game. Supposedly the PSP version has prettier graphics, but a game like this is made for a touch screen or a computer mouse. I wouldn't want to be limited to a directional pad when playing this game, no matter how good the graphics are. If you like Bejeweled, get this game. If you like RPG's, get this game. If you like puzzle games, get this game. See? There's something for just about everyone. Ok, maybe not sports fans. Of course, I'd still like to see Bejeweled put out for the DS.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Really great game. An addicting must have for any DS owner. One bug I have noticed though, is that when doing something in your citadel that requires you to fight, if you also level up then the level up screen and the citadel screen overlap, which can be annoying, but not a deal breaker.

Hours of fun the first time through

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This didn't seem like a game I'd like, but the reviews were good, and it turns out I liked the game quite a bit. I played Bejeweled a few times but never really liked it that much. Puzzle Pirates is Bejeweled with variants. This review assumes you know Bejeweled; here are the differences that make it so much more fun than Bejeweled:

1: It's two player (you against the computer); this means you want to make moves that leave the opponent unable to make good moves; and it also means your goal is to cause enough "damage" to win a battle (the games don't go on forever like they do in Bejeweled). 2: The colors actually mean something (red, blue, green, yellow build up magic points use in the current battle; purple and gold give you points that you use for future battles). 3: Magic powers make the game much more interesting; you can use the colored points ("mana") you build up to activate powers, which can change the board (examples: change all green to blue, or remove all yellow, or remove a row or square) or cause damage or heal or many other effects. 4: You can develop styles of play by getting magic items (example: a sword that turns one yellow into a blue every round) and developing skills (example: the Fire skill gives you extra red power, plus a chance to get extra turns when you match red gems). 5: Opponents have their own styles, and you have to learn to counter their style (examples: the dwarf does well when you have lots of red, so if your normal style includes using red, you might want to change to a different style to play against the dwarf; the skeleton likes to make glowing skulls, so you might want to choose a style that lets you blow up glowing skulls). 6: There are quests, with occasional choices (example: save the princess or give her up to her father), which means you aren't left playing aimlessly, but instead are given some things to do. 7: There are all sorts of side quests that let you improve your character (build a castle, capture monsters, learn new spells, gather magic runes, use magic runes to create new items, capture a mount to sit on, train the mount to be stronger, capture cities and collect taxes from them), and most of these involve variants of the Bejeweled game (example: to train the mounts you have to play a fast timed game, which requires different tactics than the regular game).

I've played the main quests in the entire game but I haven't finished all the side quests. I've gotten a *lot* of hours of play. However I don't think it'll be that much fun to play it again, because all the quests are the same. It might be fun to try a different style of play though. The multiplayer is occasionally fun but only if you're matched up with someone of the same level. Get this game for the single player campaign, not for multiplayer.

Deeper than expected, but not perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is extremely addictive, and I've devoted more hours to it in the past week than I'd care to admit, but it isn't without its flaws.

The graphics are fine, especially the portrait style art accompanying the characters during quest assignments. The majority of your time will be spent on the battle screen where the colorful objects are big enough to be able to easily manipulate; my one complaint aesthetically is that the green and yellow gems, under certain lighting conditions, look VERY similar. Fortunately there are little symbols on each, but it would be nicer if the green and yellow were more distinct.

There are a ton of side quests in this game; I have not yet finished the game and I'm definitely over 20 hours into it. Unfortunately, every quest is ultimately the exact same: go somewhere, kill something, get something, bring it back. If you were sick of fedex type quests from other RPGs, well.. that's about all you'll find here.

The main quest is, unfortunately, not all that gripping; the plot is somewhat inconsequential to the gameplay. This game would be definitely playable even if you didn't understand English..

The main drawback to the quests, aside from their repetitive nature, is that you don't really have many opportunities to change the course of events. Generally, you'll kill something, get an item, and have the choice to keep it or give it back. There aren't really any ethical dilemmas you'll be confronted with in this game.

Another problem is that, past level 15 or so, the items in shops become pretty useless. Fortunately you can spend your gold on upgrading your skills, but it would be nice if there were some top tier items you really had to save for.

Fortunately there is the nice ability to craft items. Basically, most of the new areas you explore will have a rune that you can search for, leading to another fight. The runes fall into three categories that can be combined to create much better items than you can find in stores. Once you have the three runes you want to forge into a new item, you enter another minigame, slightly modified from the normal combat. Instead of doing damage to an enemy, you have to destroy a set number of anvils that appear on the board. The more elite the item is, the more hammers you have to destroy. This is VERY challenging, in my opinion, but it's a lot more doable than the next thing I'd like to talk about.

Another thing contributing to the depth of the game is the ability to capture enemies, and even use certain ones of them as mounts. In order to capture a creature, you must have built a dungeon and defeated the monster three times in battle. Once you do that and find another of this creature, you enter a minigame with a set number of tiles on the board that you have to eliminate. These can be mind bending, but they are fun and shouldn't take more than a few minutes to figure out.

Capturing an enemy allows you to try to learn its spells; this is the only way *I* have found of attaining spells that aren't unlocked from leveling up. The spell research minigame is, unfortunately, VERY frustrating. It plays out similarly to the forging puzzle but with some minor tweaks. There is a normal playing board and to the left is a certain number of each color mana you need to collect, as well as a number of banners. In order to create a banner, you must match 4 or 5 of a color in a row. In order to destroy the banners, you can either match them like normal or manage to position them by an exploding skull. The harder spells not only require dozens of banners to be destroyed but also hundreds of each color mana. I don't know if I'm just missing something, but this minigame is by far harder than anything else in the game. I've managed to do all the easy and medium spells I've found but anything labeled as hard or very hard is just a joke.

The problem is, if you get to a point where there are no moves left on the board (where, in the normal battles there would be a mana drain, where both opponents would lose all their mana and the board would start fresh), the game ends and you lose. It is horribly frustrating to be ONE banner away from a hard spell and then running out of moves on the board.

Mounts allow you one extra spell, and you can train them up for some bonuses (e.g., for every 2 levels the mount is, you might gain an extra point in your battle skill).

Finally, another complaint I have is that, from my playthrough so far, I have not found any way to skip battles. With the way the quests are structured, they require you to run all over the kingdom with the game spawning lots of enemies in your path. When I've fought a skeleton 10 times before, it's not really challenging; it's just a hindrance in my way that I would like the opportunity to skip, especially if I'm riding a flying mount!

Finally, one more thing prospective owners should know is that the enemies in the game level up a la Oblivion; the enemies should always be within a few levels of you so you don't really get into scrapes you can't handle and you never really feel uber powerful. Whether you like this or not is personal preference. Even if you lose a fight, there are no consequences aside from losing some bonus gold and experience you would get from winning; there's no experience or gold PENALTY for losing. It's a very soft-core way of handling it, but I personally liked this.

While the above might seem overly negative, the game's core gameplay is so compelling and fun that I have played it for so much in the past week. Despite ready access to a PC and Xbox 360, I still reach for the DS instead.

Edit: I just beat this game two days ago, with all side quests completed and after reaching level 50. I'd say in total the game took around 35+ hours to beat in the manner I did, but you could probably power through it much more quickly if you weren't going for all the runes and all the side quests.

Also, I read in the manual that it IS possible to skip encounters, but only if your mount is a high enough level. I guess I just never trained my mounts up to a high enough level.

This is a wierd, but very fun game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's also very hard to get a hold of =) This is the kind of game you hope for with the DS - something fun and out of the ordinary. The bejweled aspect can get annoying at times, but it just means you need to pay attention. The good part is that if you need to, you can put this down at any moment and pick up again without "dying". Oh, and to that effect, losing a battle still gets you something. What a concept!

Additionally, there are choices you have to make in the game that affect the ending and playstyle to give you some flavor. It's very addicting, challenging, and worth the bargain basement price.

One note, in case Amazon copies this over to the PSP version - there is a bug currently known that you get no credit for your companions. It's only a small help, but still could be a distractor for some. On the company's site they haven't mention if they will have a fix in newer version of the game or not.

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