Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Preview

The editors at WorthPlaying have conjured up a thorough preview of Infinite Interactive's sci-fi Puzzle Quest off-shoot.
Much like the original, Galactrix mashes up RPG elements with a puzzle game center, resulting in a title that can appeal to both hardcore and casual players. You start off by creating a character and then heading out into the futuristic sci-fi world to collect missions, fight off pirates and conquer the galaxy.

Unlike the Bejeweled-inspired game board of the original, Galactrix mixes things up by using a board that can shift in any direction. How the puzzle pieces fall isn't determined by gravity, but rather by how you clear the current set. For example, if you match a group of tiles by shifting the last piece down, all of the new tiles will fall down. If you match a group by shifting the last piece to the left, all the new tiles will fall to the left. It's a simple tweak, but one that completely changes the matching mechanic.

Because the new matching style opens up a number of possibilities, you have to be doubly careful when setting up chains because a simple flip in the wrong direction can completely wreck your entire setup. During combat, it serves as a wild card since unknown blocks can appear from all sides. This makes random chains more likely to occur than in the original title.