Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Reviews
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The most intriguing addition is the way that gravity, or the lack of it because you're in space, is handled. In the first game, new pieces always dropped in from the top of the board to replace those used in lines, but in Galactrix they can come in from any of the playing area's six sides. The direction of gravity is determined by the direction of your last move, so even after deciding which two pieces you want to trade places, you have to think about which one you want to reposition first. There's so much strategizing going on that the best battles in Puzzle Quest: Galactrix can last for close to ten minutes, but given that every move causes a number of random pieces to appear on the board, far too many of those battles are decided by lengthy combos or strings of bombs that there's no way to plan for. Imagine playing a game of chess against a similarly skilled opponent with the knowledge that, at any time, a third party could simply sweep all of the pieces off the board and declare one of you the winner, and you have some idea of how the battles play out here. It's annoying if you lose, and it's unrewarding when you win.NowGamer 7.5.
The puzzle element comes in because, for some reason, everything that needs to be done in this universe requires playing about with boards and tiles. While mining, hacking or crafting new weapons basically involves lining up and destroying blocks within a time limit or set conditions, a battle with an enemy ship involves matching threes to raise your various power levels to fuel weapons, or simply lining up the mines on the board to blow the enemy all to hell.
Doesn't it sound dull when explained in these terms? Well, weirdly, it really isn't. The non-linear nature of the adventure and the wealth of places to visit makes it all feel quite epic, with an absolutely huge universe out there to explore, fight, trade and pick up new crew members in. There's even a fluctuating economy system going on, encouraging you to shop around a bit to find the best deals for selling your hard-earned salvage. If you squint a bit, you can almost feel like you're playing something like Elite, especially when you take into account that the various kinds of MRI, pirates and neutral vessels you'll encounter all have differing levels of allegiance to you depending on how you treat them.
