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> Results: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
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The ESRB Says
Suggestive Themes: GamerDad found a flirtatious companion who made some suggestive remarks that would probably go right over the heads of younger gamers. Like many games in the puzzle genre, the heart of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords lies in lining up rows or columns of 3 or more matching objects, which then disappear and score. Objects fall down to fill in the gaps, and the search is on to create more matching columns or rows. This is very similar to the popular puzzle game Bejeweled by PopCap Games, among others. Where Puzzle Quest is unique lies in its fantasy storyline. To begin, players choose a specialty and then enter a fantasy world where they explore a world map, fighting off monsters by playing the puzzle game. This harmony of role-playing style story and depth along with puzzle style gameplay creates a gaming experience that is not to be missed.  The focus of the game revolves around playing the puzzle game against opponents in a duel setting. The player and computer alternate turns to create chains of matching objects. Matching any of the four basic colors awards a player mana (power) reserves that can be used to power up spells that can affect the board in various ways. Clearing off chains of gold or purple stars awards a player with gold or experience respectively which can be used to buy equipment and increase a player's level. Increasing your level will unlock new spells and improve various statistics. The final type of object is skulls. Clearing off three or more skulls does damage to the opponent. When a player or their opponent run out of health, they lose the battle. Early in the game, clearing off skulls is the primary way to damage your opponent. Later, spells will also allow a player to deal damage. When an opponent is defeated, the player is rewarded with additional gold and experience and may continue on their way. The game's story revolves around protecting a kingdom from invading monsters and is supplemented with various optional side quests. Players explore the world map and must defeat particular opponents to gather materials necessary to complete the quest. Failure to defeat an opponent has no penalty and players may simply start the battle over. This "Quest" part of Puzzle Quest elevates the game from a decent game to something that is truly attention-grabbing. In addition to running errands and other quests while dueling monsters, players may buy or even create new artifacts to help them in their battles. Capturing monsters allow players to use them as a mount or opens up opportunities to research new spells. Players can even lay siege to the various cities and towns in the game to claim them as their own, which then rewards the player with regular income whenever they come to visit the town. Most of the various options involve the basic puzzle game where the player and opponent alternate turns on a shared board to clear away the objects. However, a few provide new game styles. Fighting random and planned monster encounters, along with besieging cities all involve the basic competitive puzzle game. Capturing a creature consists of an untimed puzzle where only a precise order of decisions will clear the entire board. Once a rider-capable creature is captured, it can be fought repeatedly in a timed match in order to make it a more powerful mount. Finally, creating new artifacts or learning new spells consist of a single player puzzle mode where specific numbers of each object must be cleared from the puzzle to finish the task.  Puzzle fans will find themselves playing "just one more game" in order to further the story or increase their character's power. Meanwhile, gamers with stronger story preferences may find the game's quests and other objectives enough to raise their enjoyment of the puzzle aspects. Unfortunately, since the battle mode has the player taking turns with an opponent, true puzzle purists may become frustrated as the game is then less controlled than one without an opponent. It is much harder to set-up long matching chains, as a good setup will typically be preempted by one's opponent. Despite this minor "purist" drawback, the rest of the game shines and is perfect for almost any age or demeanor. Other Platforms In the PSP version, the visuals and audio are excellent, with tons of dazzling effects and a very nicely done soundtrack. The load-times are very acceptable - you will never wait more than 10-15 seconds for anything. The controls generally work very well, but the timed battles are more difficult since you have to navigate manually instead of just touching the desired blocks. Unfortunately the PSP version has a bug that affects the application of 'companion skills' in battle: for example, one companion is very good against undead, granting you 10 initial damage against creatures such as skeletons and zombies. Only on the PSP it doesn't work. It is unknown if a patch will be released, but the impact of the bug is minor to the point of many people not noticing. 
As a puzzle title, it is unsurprising to find very little to be concerned with here. The game has a fantasy setting, which include the typical skeletons, wizards, and necromancers which some find offensive. There is one instance of a companion who tries to persuade you to not turn her over to her future husband by arranged marriage. Her persuasions are a tad suggestive, but will probably go right over the head of younger gamers. Since most of the game is untimed, even younger players (below 10) are able to play as they can take as much time as they want to think about their next move. If too much time is taken, a helpful arrow appears indicating at least one available move. Kids, or adults, that like to level up their characters to high levels and breeze through a role-playing style game should know that the game performs level-matching for most battles, and thus even random monster encounters will remain fairly challenging throughout the course of the game. Particularly unwise choices in improving your character as it levels may make the latter stages of the game more difficult.
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