Sequels either go with a fresh layer of the same colored paint or risk taking a roll of the dice. Following Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the WarLords could have been as simple as taking the wonderfully addictive puzzle-meets-RPG gameplay and fitting into some new, exotic setting. Instead, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is a risky new approach—although much of the game differs from the original, the same flavor remains in this highly promising sequel slated for early 2009.

Before getting into the advanced features, you first need to familiarize yourself with the basics. Galactrix evolves the core gameplay of Challenge of the WarLords with a new puzzle board, pieces, and set of abilities. The fundamental match-three mechanic remains, albeit jazzed up with a number of new features. There's considerably more to deal with, which makes the game daunting at first; however, once you've learned the ropes, it proves to be one of the most active puzzlers around.

Puzzles are battles played out between you and an enemy vessel. Your goal is to lower their shields with attacks, then go in for the kill by destroying their spaceship's hull. Aligning black mine tiles allows you to exert damage on your foe. Numerals on the mines let you know the specific damage modifier ranging from a single point up to 10. Naturally, you want to grab higher value mines to maximize your attack power. All damage first gets absorbed by shields and then gets eaten up by the ship's hull. Once you whittle away the value in both, you win the battle. Of course, there's much more involved in winning than just lining up mines.

Colored tiles engender several different abilities from shield boost to intelligence to active abilities. Clearing blue tiles from the grid, for instance, replenishes your shield. White and purple tiles correspond to two distinct types of experience--the first allowing you to access new abilities and the second helping you to evade battles from the map screen. The remaining tiles--red, yellow, and green--are tied to ability use. As you progress through the game you can acquire combat skills to boost your chances for victory including attacks or grid modifiers. The basic laser skill, for example, deals a light amount of damage, while the basic thruster grants the ability to clear a single tile from the grid. These skills have a specific cost in red, yellow, and/or green tiles. Amass enough of the required tiles and you're welcome to trigger the skill when it's your turn.

Master the fundamentals and you can start tinkering with cargo shipping for items and cash, item crafting, and exploring the massive star map. Galactrix follows in the steps of the first game by offering a slew of items for customizing your spaceship; in fact, you can even acquire new vessels. 150 weapons and items are promised, complemented by well over two dozen different ships. Getting these requires winning tough battles or crafting. Occasionally, plans for items and ships are dropped following battles, enabling you to play a mini-game to create the object. The match-three mini-game mirrors the mechanics of battle, although you're racing against time instead of combating an opponent. Here, the objective is to create component tiles by matching specific colored tiles. You then match the component tiles to form the parts needed to craft the item.