For those that have an addictive personality, you may want to avoid this puzzle for fear of being sucked in.
Puzzle Quest 2
Developer: Infinite Interactive
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Release Date: June 22, 2010
ESRB Rating: 10+
[starreview]
Having never played the first Puzzle Quest, but knowing that it was Bejeweled with role-playing elements, had always intrigued me. In Puzzle Quest 2, the game kept me awake during several nights of addicting gameplay. Luckily I was able to pull myself away and kick the habit, at least temporarily.
Stay awhile and question?
Puzzle Quest 2 is the result of taking a drug and adding sugar to it. Its simple concept of matching three objects and choosing a character to level while you perform this task is evil at best. There are four classes to choose from, Barbarians, Assassins, Sorcerers, and Templars. Each class must rely on matching the colored gem or object that is pertinent to their particular skill set. Skills are learned through leveling and mini-games which can be swapped out however you’d like. There is a maximum of five spells at one time on the board to be aware of. Depending on what class you pick changes the way you play to a certain degree due to this. You’ll also be earning experience throughout the game for missions and battling which leads to leveling your character. When you gain a level, you pick an attribute to increase, which correspond with the colors of the objects on the board you match to earn.
Once you do pick a class, you’re charged with saving a village from an evil influence and must proceed to dispatch any enemies. The great part about how the storyline is setup is the fact that you don’t always have to fight an opponent who is in a room. Along the way you spare with plenty of hell-beasts, demons, goblins and other varieties of not-nice creatures, however you do run across those who would help you on your mission. There are shops setup by the townsfolk where you can buy weapons and armor, even upgrade the gear you’re wearing. You’ll need all the help you can get however, with the punishment the game dishes out at times.
Vampire Mist, don't breathe this!
The AI can be devious, even on the easiest setting. This makes planning your moves crucial to victory due to the fact that the AI will proceed to be extremely cheap in its move set. At times I’ve wanted to scream at how unfair it seemed, others, I saw the mistake I made and tried to learn from it. As with anything, your millage may vary when it comes to playing against the computer.
When it came to controlling the game, it was matched decently for the Nintendo DS. Using the touch screen, you move one object to make a match. It can also be used to activate your special powers when it’s ready. Players can also use the D-pad to activate powers, but I rarely did this due to sheer laziness. To move around when you’re not in battle was a bit annoying to get used to however. Moving to a spot means tapping on the portion of the screen you’d like to go to, but only in a set path. Luckily mis-tapping doesn’t mean you have to fight an enemy due to being able to cancel the choice, but it does prove to be a slight annoyance.
Not quite sure who's better looking here.
Unfortunately one of the other downsides of the game is that the story seems to be simply be, defeat said great evil. You hack and slash your way through enemies to get to the big bad and defeat it. It doesn’t get points for complexity, but on the other hand, keeping it simple does provide a certain cheesy charm.
At the end of the day, I’ve lost countless hours to Puzzle Quest 2. It offers variety and a fun way to keep playing the match three genre. This is a must have for puzzle fans or even those who want to waste a few hours here and there to a highly addictive quality DS title.
The review copy used for this review was furnished by D3Publisher.
