Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Mixed Plate

Media Credit: Courtesy of Nintendo.com

Puzzle Quest is a horrible title. It has horrible box art. Even this company's previous games have been lackluster; but Puzzle Quest is an amazing game and a fantastic holiday gift for that gamer on your list. Even if you hate puzzles, you've never played one like Puzzle Quest.

The game has insurmountable depth. You can train mounts, battle monsters, raid castles, build a party, train summons, master spells, choose from up to four character classes and dream up an infinite number of character combinations. Then add the fact that you're doing that across an unbelievable amount of quests - 230 in all, 150 main and 80+ sides (if you count all the individual battles and fetch quests in each).

How do you do all this? Through the engrossing gameplay of puzzles of course. Everyone has played a connect-three puzzle game in their life. Whether you like'em or hate'me, you've played'em, and that's where Infinity Interactive got the idea. They take the bejeweled-style gameplay that built the popcap games empire and make the old gameplay into something that's competitive, simple and fun.

If you're thinking you just match colors to attack, you're wrong. The developers are fantasy nuts and have used their nerd knowledge to invent a way of working turn-based battles into the casual gamers favored gametype: puzzles. And it's cripplingly addictive. You can match money or EXP icons to get a boost at the end of the match or skulls to direct attack, but mostly you'll be matching colors to build up your spells.

The over-world map has a very Final Fantasy tactics/Ogre Battle feel. Just replace the real-time strategy with puzzles. The graphics are average and don't hinder the game at all. This is quite a feat, since the initial success of Puzzle Quest on the DS and PSP have had the game released on every system under the sun.

The best system is Preference. The Nintendo systems offer superior touch screen controls and friend code online battles. The other systems have a higher difficulty and free online competition but old-fashioned controls.

There's no getting around that Puzzle Quest is the black sheep of gaming gifts this holiday, but PQ's playability, multiplayer and discount price makes it the smart choice to show that snobby gamer that you have good taste. The only real reason not to buy it is if you already own a copy. Puzzle Quest is 'an adventure so nice you should buy it twice'. And keep one.

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