[Upcoming] Puzzle Quest

An interesting game to come - a puzzle/RPG hybrid based on the Warlords series to come March 2007 to the PSP and DS and later on X-Box Live Arcade and PC. For now it seems pretty good, having an epic single player campaign and multiplayer as well. This preview and interview are a nice read, as well as the official site - http://www.infinite-interactive.com/index.php

The PC demo is out. Game should be released next week for DS and PSP.

Very interesting--sounds like the kind of game I might need a twelve step program to quit playing

Thanks for the info.

Si, muchas gracias!

Just "tried out" the demo.. for a couple hours! Puzzle Quest seems like a real gem!

Needless to say, I'll be all over either the DS or PSP … haven't decided which yet.

This is great news, I did not expect a PC demo for a few more months!

Ooooh, I'm a Diamond Mine addict. Must download this demo immediately!
And yes, I used to be a Warlords addict as well…

I loved the demo. Can't wait for the full version to come out.

As I read in a recent preview, it resembles an RPG that uses the "connect 3" type puzzle for its combat mechanics. I've never seen such an amount of different options in a puzzle game before, that's for sure. There is map travel, different quest, my own citadel … Did I mention the storyline? Even cutscenes. The art is fantastic, though some might not like the closer to anime approach. There is even item crafting, skill capture and sieges! It might get repetitive a bit after time, as all of the minigames use the same basic puzzle but with various objectives, but for a casual game it is certainly more than enough.

I´ve added a few newsbits about Puzzle Quest. No idea if we´ll really cover it, because it´s a console game.

edit: Seems it´s unofficially clear that a PC version will come out around June.

Actually I2 have stated (on the forums at least) that the PSP and DS versions are first to come, with a PC version following later an possibly X-Box Live version as well.

edit : Here is an actual post from I2's lead designer Steve Fawkner on the subject

Originally Posted by SteveFawkner
… We will (eventually) have a demo before the game is released on PC.
At the moment, the first releases will take place on PSP & DS (I believe there will be a PSP demo…)
After that, there will XBox 360 which by its very downloadable nature will have a free demo available.
Finally we will do the PC demo + full game.

How long will all of this take? Not certain, though the PSP & DS are on track for an early March release. I don't actually know the time between releases for other platforms yet… but I trust D3P to come up with the right time so nobody is incovenienced too much. …

Cheers

Steve

and the actual link to the forums http://infinite-interactive.com/Infi…opic.php?t=205

Originally Posted by Gorath
I´ve added a few newsbits about Puzzle Quest. No idea if we´ll really cover it, because it´s a console game.

Of course, you know you'll see something about it in my article

Okay, then you´re volunteer to update the DB entry.

That's the way to do it Gorath, you're learning son; pass the buck to old Mike!!

I got mine today … I was leaning to get the DS version, but one of the other guys at GamerDad already ordered it so I grabbed the PSP version. There is a known bug in the PSP version with companion abilities not working. Oh well.

Originally Posted by txa1265
There is a known bug in the PSP version with companion abilities not working. Oh well.

How they missed that is beyond me. Anyway I got the DS version.

Originally Posted by Cormac
How they missed that is beyond me. Anyway I got the DS version.

From the official forums:

With 1-2 days to go until Gold Master, a change was made to the code that caused this problem (it had been working bug free for 8-9 months up until then). The nature of the bug was such that it didn't do anything jarring - no crash, no real change of difficulty or balance - just the disappearance of a small feature that we'd all gotten accustomed to clicking past anyway.

In the general rush to get Gold Master, amidst fixing the bugs that were causing problems and making last minute balance changes, this one simply went unnoticed, because we'd all become used to ignoring it. The Sony testers no doubt missed it because they didn't know it was meant to work that way.

Originally Posted by Cormac
Anyway I got the DS version.

Got any impressions of the game you'd like to share?

I was keeping an eye on this game. The puzzle genre seems almost like a natural thing for the DS hardware and I can never get enough of my DS. Just finished downloading the PC demo, may play it sometime later to get an idea of how gameplay actually is.

Originally Posted by Role-Player
Got any impressions of the game you'd like to share?

I played just enough to level up my PC once (the warrior, a class I hadnt tried in the demo; unfortunately there's only two save slots available so we wont be able to try out the four classes at once). I immediately noticed that there's lots more quests in the full game than in the demo. It's a perfect fit for the DS, really, the game is played solely with the stylus and it works perfectly. There's some sound issues --static -- but they are resolved if you lower the setting to quiet or very quiet, so it's no big deal. The graphics, while not as spectacular as the PC demo's and I suspect the PSP version's also -- there's no special effects when you clear a row of four gems, for example -- are fine and everything is easily distinguishable on the tiny battle grid (I've read about people not being able to make out a +5 skull to a normal one but that's not been my case). Other than that, gameplay is exactly the same as the demo's and that's what sold me on buying the game as soon as I saw it in store.

I would second Cormac's impressions. Since I've not hit the bug yet it is all upside for me! The PSP version looks and sounds gorgeous, and there is no issue with limited save slots (though I'm just using Wizard for the moment). The effects are there in full and look great.

The load times are quite 'PSP-ish' … and that ain't good.

Thanks for the impression, Cormac and txa. Appreciate it

Now it's a trade-off… Work more to afford games but less time to play them.