Puzzle Quest 2: Xbox Windows Phone Review

Puzzles games frequently feature enjoyable gameplay, but they rarely requite users a reason to go along on playing beyond chasing high scores (or Achievements). That'southward what made the original Puzzle Quest and then special. Australian programmer Infinite Interactive (subsequently bought out by Firemint) had the revolutionary idea of combining the core gameplay of a puzzle game with a sizable RPG adventure. Naturally a slightly less-inspired sequel followed, this fourth dimension branching out to even more platforms. Namco handled the Windows Phone port of Puzzle Quest 2, squeezing the lengthy console game into a tiny mobile parcel.

Puzzle Battles

What sets the Puzzle Quest serial apart from other role-playing games is that the battles take place entirely on a match iii puzzle field. Recollect Bejeweled, merely with two opponents taking turns and attempting to defeat each other. Mixed in with standard colorful gems are skulls that harm the enemy when matched. Once either side runs out of life, the battle ends.

Puzzle Quest's mana organization works differently than a typical RPG, merely plays to the puzzle game'south strengths. Matching gems of whatsoever color adds to that color's mana pool. Both histrion and enemy can bring upwards to 5 spells and techniques into boxing, each requiring different combinations of colored mana to utilise. Spell effects vary from destroying all gems of a specific color to healing the pulley. Effective spell use becomes an important part of the role player'due south boxing strategy as the game goes on.

The first game's feel and gold tiles are gone, replaced with gauntlet gems that provide action points when matched. Action points fuel the use of weapons, shields, and potions; these items no longer provide persistent stat bonuses (though other armor pieces do). Basically, sword and the like give players another option for attacking and defending when they can't observe a good move to make on the precious stone lath. The actual buttons for these weapons and such are needlessly tiny in this version, only you go used to information technology.

PQ2 also mixes things up a bit over its predecessor with playing field diverseness. In addition to the standard jewel field, two zoomed-out views pack a lot more gems onto the screen. The larger fields can make some spells much more than effective, but unfortunately both fields are quite uncommon. I would have liked the option to select these as the default playing field since they ameliorate fit my spell-oriented playing style.

Minigames galore

Speaking of variety, numerous deportment initiate their own minigames: bashing doors down, picking lots, searching for and convincing traps, and looting chests for treasure. Each of these cleverly switches up the standard match-3 mechanics to fit the theme. For instance, in the looting minigame your rewards are determined by the types of chests yous're able to match. The annoying capture puzzles from the outset game return, simply now they're solely tied to learning spells. You lot tin can always look up their solutions or skip them (as I did).

Ane large dungeon

Now nosotros reach Puzzle Quest 2's most significant deviation from the original: game structure. Part 2 eschews a vast overworld map in favor of upward-close-and-personal dungeon exploration. Players travel from screen to screen by tapping on hotspots. On the plus side, this creates a sense of location and exploration that the predecessor lacked. However, PQ 2's world contains so few distinct locations that it hardly matters. Instead of taking place across an unabridged kingdom like before, the sequel is confined to a unmarried village and a gigantic multilevel dungeon.

The change in scope applies to the story, too. Puzzle Quest 2's intro describes an adventurer'southward descent into the giant tower, and that'southward pretty much the whole setup. Quests, whether of the master or side multifariousness, are relatively few in number for an RPG. Equally the dungeon is so huge and spread out, I often forgot what I was supposed to be doing other than moving toward the next checkpoint. Past the time the last level of the dungeon rolls around, you are finally given a sense of purpose, but it's besides footling too late. Don't get me wrong, Puzzle Quest 2 doesn't demand a clever story to be fun; information technology just falls a bit brusque this fourth dimension.

The longest journey

RPGs tend to be longer than other types of games – usually a practiced thing. But Puzzle Quest 2 feels too long for a variety of reasons. Outset off, battle length. Nearly halfway through the game, the battles starting time to drag on longer than a dragon'due south tail. Single fights tend to last ten minutes or more. The reason: enemies have way too much health. Worse, they frequently block concrete attacks, reducing impairment taken by half or more. You lot can't practise much to hasten a high level monster's demise other than keep pecking abroad at them.

The overly lengthy battles actually cut into the title'southward portability. Y'all tin save at whatever time except during battles. Fine. But like all Namco Windows Phone titles, PQ 2 simply lacks the standard tombstoning feature – nor has it been updated to support Fast App Switching. Resuming an interrupted game simply restarts from the initial company logo sequence. That means if you press the Home or Search buttons or need to step away from your phone for any reason during a fight, you lose any progress made in the (lengthy) boxing. Since fights comprise 80 or 90 percent of the game, Puzzle Quest ii tin scarcely be played in short spurts or on the go.

Finally, by the cease of the game this PQ2 overstays its welcome. Recollect, the dungeon is gigantic and the story bare bones. Once I reached the end of the 3rd floor of the dungeon, I was ready for the game to come to a satisfying conclusion. Piffling did I know the dungeon withal had several more levels and x hours of the exact aforementioned gameplay in store. The developers simply spread the content too thin in favor of creating a lengthy 30+ hour experience.

Depression toll artwork

The original Puzzle Quest featured attractive anime-inspired fine art courtesy of the talented Susan Luo. With the sequel, lead designer and Infinite CEO Steve Fawkner chose a more western-fantasy inspired arroyo in social club to match the dungeon-crawling gameplay. That might not be and so bad, only the new character designer Alister Lockhart's art looks so flat and bogus. As the comparison in a higher place reveals, the original characters accept much better faces and more realistic proportions. Some of part 2'southward monsters expect okay, but they all have that low-end fan art quality and poor computer coloring. The view outside of boxing fares amend, except the sprites don't breathing all that well.

Achievements

Puzzle Quest 2 has the same crappy Achievements as the XBLA version. Several rely on pure luck, like the one for losing during the beginning turn of a boxing. You could play through the whole game and miss it (as I did). The non-random 'Gate Hacker' is no ameliorate thought out. To earn it, players have to choose the bashing minigame at every unmarried opportunity in the game. If the devs desire u.s.a. to bash everything, why even offer other options of lock-picking, etcetera? Remember, the game takes dozens of hours to complete – one fault and you'd miss out on the Achievement.

Equally some other strike against portability, PQ 2's Achievements will only unlock when the phone has a Wi-Fi connexion. I met the criteria for one while offline and it actually popped the next fourth dimension I connected, so it could be worse.

Overall Impression

Okay, so Puzzle Quest 2 isn't quite every bit stellar as the original. The story, game construction, and art all took a turn for the worse. This version besides cries out for tombstoning and Fast App Switching support. And nonetheless, I don't hesitate to recommend the game to fans of Bejeweled-like puzzlers and fantasy RPGs.  It all comes downwardly to the tried-and-true match 3 gameplay. Boxing length aside, matching gems to defeat an orc or a werewolf, casting spells and techniques as necessary, is just more compelling than playing for points. Buy into that and you'll find hours and hours of gameplay here. But considering the loftier request price and slightly crude port, you may want to wait till it goes on sale again.

Puzzle Quest 2 costs $6.99 and there is a costless trial. Choice information technology up here from the Store.

Special thanks to Sam Mayo at Firemint and Ben Lichius at Spark Plug Games for providing background details on this awesome series.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-xbox-live-review-puzzle-quest-2

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