365//365: Day 074 – Puzzle Quest (PSP) [Quickie]

Puzzle Quest is a fun frustration. Confused already? Let me explain –

The game its self is a brilliant blend of a puzzle game and RPG elements. Choose one of several classes, engage in battle with enemies through matching puzzle pieces, using gems matched during battle to trigger special attacks you gain throughout battle, purchase equipment, and much more. You follow a flimsy story more or less, but the actual battles within a puzzle game, while using various special attacks really draw an addiction in gameplay. While the premise is simple enough (match 3 of the same color/model, 4 for another turn, etc) it does take patience and a good eye. Pick the 3 of a kind and leaving a 4 of a kind up, your opponent will capitalize.

Graphically and audio wise, it’s quite drab. The puzzle portion its self looks clear and distinguishable. Your avatar, as well as ever other avatar of ever NPC out there, lack any animation or life to their look and style. It’s as bare bones as possible, with the audio holding a similar no frills, no thrills approach. They both barely get by on their respective sections.

What bring all the boys to the yard is Puzzle Quests’ milkshake — the gameplay. As I mentioned, it’s not a complicated game at all. The strategy lies on picking the right colors to combo so you can fill your color meters and use your special attacks. You gain more attacks as you level, with different options depending on what you choose for your class. Most of the time you feel like you have to rush a pick out, but take our time, find what works best and do it. Sometimes you’ll need to take out three of the same to chain a whole event of matches. A lot of strategy to it, and is quite satisfying with each victory you accumulate.

Five bucks says the boss wins!

While the weak audio and video really don’t hold much water when it comes to complaints, there’s one glaring fault that single handed infuriates me, and a major deterrent in making me play the game more: the “lucky” CPU. No matter what difficulty setting, your opponents always seem to get the upper hand on situations. For example — there’s two skull icons next to each other on the top row. The row next to it has none. I clear 3 of the same color out on that row, in essence, respawning three new gems, the second one being a skull. Opponent swaps the skull piece to the top row, matches with the two on the top row next to each other, with the end result being a HP loss on my side. This happens often. It’s far from a rare occurrence, as these things happen to such a common degree, that it becomes frustrating, and apparent that the pieces become manipulated to the CPU’s advantage. It really hurts the longevity of the game, as it turns an addicting, fun little hybrid title into an enraging, cheating little title.

If you can ride out the frequent enough “cheating” and frustration, Puzzle Quest is quite an addicting title, offering a new way to play two different genres. Although it’s fun on any gaming platform you choose, the pick up and play handheld versions serve as the best option.

Rating: 7.6