Puzzle Kingdoms is a puzzle/action/RPG game that is more about strategy than it is about puzzles or action or role-playing. It’s like Bejeweled on crack, only better.

Or maybe not crack…after all, there are green glowing pot leaves:

But I digress. The gameplay itself is actually really addicting. You play a warrior type of character who lives in a land that is ravaged by drought and a massive food shortage. You’re trying to help the other kingdoms, but they’re all hostile, so when you approach a tower or castle, it attacks you. At the same time, there’s a group of monster-like creatures who are fighting against you as well and they’re concerned with “boxes” you are finding and destroying, and then… fuck to be honest, I don’t care. The story line isn’t really that interesting. I mean, I’m glad they have one, and it doesn’t feel forced. But in general, I care more about the battles than about saving the peasants.

So what’s game play like? Well, if you played the original title, Puzzle Quest, you’ll notice that it is similar, but there are some definite improvements. If you haven’t played Puzzle Quest, let me give it a shot at explaining it. In fact, I’m going to approach this review as though you’ve never played Puzzle Quest, so some of this may sound familiar if you’re not new to the franchise. Also please note that I got this game on steam – it is also available for the Wii and DS.

The basic concept is that you need to match 3+ like blocks to destroy them from the board. You can slide both the rows and the columns, and it kind of works like the board game labyrinth – as you slide, the one at the bottom falls off and a new one slides onto the top.

Here’s where the strategy comes into play.  You can only have a certain number of players in each battle, and to use them, you have to destroy a certain number of the correct color blocks to make each character attack an enemy. Of course, the players who need fewer blocks do less damage and vice versa. As you play, you also add points to a larger pot, giving you the ability to use special magic powers – but like with the characters, you can only take a certain number of them into each battle. The same goes for the special items that you find in certain dungeons. They enhance your powers, but you can only carry a certain number of them at once. So, before each battle, you really need to carefully consider what you have activated based on the enemies you’ll be fighting.

One aspect that I really loved about Puzzle Kingdoms was the mini games. At the end of each level (after you conquer a kingdom by playing a number of matches), you can play mini games that let you unlock new characters, find special items, and advance the story line. The minigames are really just versions of the game you’re already playing, but with an emphasis on time or using as few turns as possible to clear the board.

The game is not without faults, though. I definitely am not a fan of the money system. Whenever your characters die, you can just buy them back – and you have to be really fucking bad to run out of money. I don’t really like how you’re not connected to the characters you buy, either. Instead, they’re just a “type” of character and you unlock better types that you can buy. I’d rather unlock better abilities for my current characters and have choices about what to increase when I spend my money (defense, offense, etc.). To me, this lack of growth as a team really makes this game a bit lackluster.

The AI kinda pissed me off too. Often, there’d be times when there were no possible moves on the board, so when I essentially gave up my turn, the AI would randomly add a new piece that would be perfect for the computer. Other times, tons of pieces would fall into perfect place randomly, making the game too easy.

There is multiplayer mode, which excited me…until I actually signed on to multiplayer mode. It’s basically to play with someone on the same computer. Here I thought that I could play online. That would be pretty cool. I’d love a set-up where you got a certain amount of money at the start and could buy the characters, magic, and items that you thought would give you the best shot at winning. But then, it’s kind of like playing chess online. After a few games, you just kinda have to ask yourself why you’re playing this when you could be playing Left4Dead online instead. Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, the artwork was adequate. Nothing’s going to blow you through the roof, but it isn’t an ugly game or visually annoying. The same goes for the audio. One of the biggest gripes that I have is that many puzzle games use really annoying songs on loop. Yes, I know that I can turn off the sound in most games, but it just isn’t the same. I like to listen to the music MADE for the game. In Puzzle Kingdoms, the music fits the atmosphere really well and doesn’t make me want to stab my eardrum with a fork. So that’s a plus.

Overall, this is a really decent game if you’re into puzzles and strategy games. Like I said, it has strong foundations in Bejeweled, so if you’re obsessed with that game, you should like this one. I’m actually really into it and intend to beat the game, which is not something I can say of all puzzle games.

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