Review by: Brandon "Magic Box" Cackowski-Schnell

The latest puzzle combat game from Infinite Interactive looks to take the puzzle combat genre into a different direction than Puzzle Quest: Galactrix and, for the most part, it succeeds, however the lackluster presentation and lacking manual stands in its way. It's a shame really, as the base puzzle combat mechanics are strong, and the game requires more strategic thinking to succeed.

You're the ruler of your kingdom and a strange famine has affected the world. You've also heard of strange magic boxes appearing so with their motivations unclear, you do what any good ruler would do, namely march into neighboring kingdoms and grind them under your boot heels. Combat fits the "match three" model, however there are a few twists. For one, rather than move blocks that are already in play to match blocks you add a new block to the field, either at the beginning or end of a row, or at the top or bottom of a column. As blocks come in, matches of multiples in a row, or multiples in an "L" shape either fills up your troops' power gauge, or your hero's spell gauge, or does direct damage to enemy troops. Combat feels more strategic, as you can see which blocks will be entering the play field, to an extent, so careful planning is required. At times, the best move you can make is to make one that doesn't allow for any further matches.

As you traipse through the countryside you'll have a hero, who can equip items and relics to help in battle, as well as cast spells. Your hero commands troops, up to four at time and these troops act in a similar capacity as spells and/or weapons from previous Puzzle Quest games with one notable exception—as your opponent does damage to you, your hero remains unscathed but your troops can die. Replenishing troops costs money, with more powerful troops costing more cash You can leave any battle and retreat, if you're getting your clock cleaned, however any dead troops will remain dead and when you restart the battle, you have to restart it from the beginning. Losing outright, with all troops dead means that you have to either give up half the gold you've amassed on this section of the map, or you have to start this section of the map all over again. As it is a tremendous pain to have to restart a section of the map after clearing our eight of the ten battles on the map, knowing when to stay and when to retreat is crucial.

As you progress through the world map, taking over kingdoms, you'll get access to more heroes as well as more relics, items and troops, all obtained by completing mini-games that riff on the main puzzle combat mechanics. Each kingdom you take over is also acquired as a configurable set of a hero, a set of troops and a set of relics and weapons. Each kingdom has an upper limit on what you can add to it, so you'll have to pick wisely between all available troops and items. Unfortunately, knowing what to pick, or even what you can pick in the first place is made next to impossible due to the game's threadbare manual and poor presentation. Sure the game is twenty bucks, so given how much game play there is, it's a great value, however if you can't figure out what to do, the value proposition falls apart. Those that see the Puzzle Quest name plastered all over the box and pick up the game planning on having the same pick up and play, casual but deep type of experience are going to be disappointed at best or frustrated and quit at worst.

If you don't mind some trial and error, or don't mind working through the game until you figure out what to do, there is fun to be had with Puzzle Kingdoms. The game seems like more of an evolution of the genre than Puzzle Quest: Galactrix did, I just don't think most people will stick around long enough to see it.