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I've been enjoying a truly addictive new game, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. Whether you consider yourself a casual gamer, or a 'hardcore RPG' gamer, this game has the elements to intrigue, and captivate you. Imagine this; your favorite Role Playing character stats building and questing mixed together with a match three combat phase. Add to that, a mini game puzzle aspect every time you want to enrich your adventure by adding a new element such as capturing prisoners, or mounts... and you've got the best new genere game made! I hope to see a lot more from the developers of Puzzle Quest. This RPG/puzzle genere game is as involved as you want to make it, and has many levels of game play.
As a rare treat, this RPG/Match 3 game has a Multi-player option! After you build up your character you can battle against an online opponent. In the single player game, you're playing against NPC's (non player characters in RPGspeak), or more literally... the computer. In single player mode, you're up against quest monsters, knights, and in the case of seiges... entire kingdoms. I'm looking forward to playing the multi-player mode, and find this option makes it a lot more enticing to create and build up different characters. Nice way to add "re-playability" to a casual game.
You get to choose from two male and two female avatars in each of the four character classes-Druid, Knight, Warrior and Wizard-to create, develop and customize your ultimate hero. Another aspect of the RPG genere included in Puzzle Quest is that you can "Build Your Own Empire" - Build an empire as you capture cities, build castles and gain a party of companions that will aid you in battle.
Yet another layer to this game is the third mode of play available... Instant Play. If you're short on time, or you simply don't feel like "questing", you can jump right into back to back battles. This is a great option that gives you the ability to level up your character stats, without going through the motions of the quests between battles. Leveling up should be so convienient in other RPG's! ;)
I mentioned "mini-games" earlier. If I were to compare the match 3 element of this game to the well known classic, "Bejewelled", you'll recognize the "bonus" levels. Remove all the pieces on the board in the usual 'match 3' fashion... none will be replaced. If you can figure out the puzzle, you capture your opponent so that you can learn their spells. Capturing a mount is handled the same way.
Another mini game presents itself when you try to forge the runes you collect throughout gameplay. To successfully forge an item, you have to play the match 3 game, with 'anvils' thrown into the mix randomly. More valuable and powerful forged items require you to destroy more anvils to accomplish the forging process. This part of the game reminds me of Diablo II, but instead of a "Horadric Cube", you're required to complete a challenging match 3 round.
I haven't beaten this game yet, because I'm enjoying exploring creating my own weapons and magic items, training mounts, and learning new magic spells from the opponents I capture... not to mention seizing towns and building my own little empire!











