Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Preview

GameShark offers a preview of the upcoming Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, looking at what the game improves and adds to its predecessor.
Concerned less about story than it's addictive brand of puzzle gameplay, Galactrix does possess a narrative shell that has you taking on the nefarious ambitions of an intergalactic corporation. Four corporate entities have managed to explore the far reaches of the galaxy, cementing humanity's roll as the dominant race. Unfortunately, one of those companies has given into avarice and is seeking to seize power over humankind and the varied alien races spread across the expanse of space. Your job is to save the galaxy, stopping the maniacal machinations of this intergalactic conglomerate by solving puzzles.

The game borrows the formula established by Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords in combining the character development aspects of a role-playing game and combat system of a puzzle game. It's an unusual combination to be certain, but it works marvelously. As a rookie space pilot, you navigate the stars in search of battles that occur on circular puzzle board filled with hexagonal tokens of various colors. Just like the battles in Challenge of the Warlords, damage is dealt by matching three damage tokens in a row on the puzzle board; in Galactrix, these are represented by black tokens. Each token carries a numerical value that contributes to the base damage dealt to your enemy. As your progress through the game, you can acquire blueprints to build better ships able to withstand more attacks or even resistance to specific types of damage.
Spotted on Blue's News.