Thursday, March 22, 2007

Puzzle Quest! (DS)

Damn, that screen is small.

That was my first impression of the DS version of Puzzle Quest. After playing the PC version, it feels like you need a freaking microscope to see this version.

Plus I'm old and all that.

I still played it for two hours yesterday, though, and when I started playing this morning, the screen bothered me much less. I do think the PC version is going to be the best version, by far, because it supports all resolutions and it can use the mouse, but the DS stylus is very, very handy.

The PSP version, obviously, with its larger screen and widescreen aspect ratio, is a perfect fit graphically, but I can't imagine not using a mouse or a stylus to move pieces during combat.

What I've really come to appreciate after playing the full version for a few hours is what an amazing amount of stuff this game has, and how many choices you have when using your gold. Do you build an additional structure in your citadel, one that might help you in combat by enhancing training or enabling you to learn spells from captured enemies, or do you more directly help yourself by spending that money on better armor and weapons? There are a HUGE number of choices.

The full version also confirms what I wrote a few days ago about the demo: Puzzle Quest is an RPG that uses a puzzle element for combat. And so much of the combat in RPG's is absolutely cookie-cutter and repetitive that this comes off as quite fresh in comparison.

This game is going to have a long life and I think word of mouth is really going to drive sales. And I'm more than willing to buy the PC version as well, as soon as it gets released.

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