Puzzle Quest 2 Reviews

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Written by Brother None on July 17th, 2010

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All in all, Puzzle Quest 2 is a perfect example of Xbox Live Marketplace quality. An engaging story, a fun puzzle-based battle system, and new ways to customize your characters will have fans playing for days. If you're wary of the battle system, don't be: you'll be having plenty of fun.

My favorite version of the puzzle is used for picking locks. Here, specific shapes that represent lock tumblers line the bottom of the puzzle screen. To unlock them, at least 2 matching shapes need to be lined up on top of them. Despite this touch of variety, the game still involves playing some version of Bejeweled over and over again, making it very repetitive played in anything other than short bursts.

In all, Puzzle Quest 2 is not the five-star game I hoped for. While the game can be a lot of fun in the beginning, the sheer grind of doing puzzle after puzzle, enemy after enemy, chest after chest, door after door is likely to kill the joy of all but the most ardent fan. That said, the game delivers a lot of value for 1200 Microsoft points, and may serve better when you've got a thirty-minute puzzle game itch. It's much less fun when approached like a traditional RPG, as playing hours of the game at a time will leave you a broken, sobbing mess.

Ultimately Puzzle Quest 2 isn't a bad game, it's just a disappointing one. There are other games in this genre that should get your greenbacks before you invest in this one, including the stellar Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and the original Puzzle Quest. Measure your expectations accordingly.

However, if you've enjoyed a Puzzle Quest game in the past, even if it wasn't branded as Puzzle Quest, you'll definitely appreciate this sequel. There's enough refinement to the initial formula that made the first one a success so that it feels like a worthy follow-up, but not so much change that anything feels like a misstep. And if you've missed out on these Bejeweled-RPG hybrids in the past, Puzzle Quest 2 marks a great entry point and something that's worth checking out. It's also worth noting the game doesn't feel as unbalanced as the original did, which was notorious for benefiting your AI opponent with lucky drops and combinations to prolong their turns, including a completely overpowered end game opponent. The boss fights here are pretty well balanced, I never felt like the game was cheating or being unfair. There are a couple optional boss fights, namely the Yeti and Ogre, which will want to make you toss your controller in rage, but at least they aren't required to finish the game.

Staying true to its origins Puzzle Quest 2 delivers the addicting gameplay of two genres and makes some wonderful changes to be considered more than just a sequel. The sound and visuals are among the best you'll find in the puzzle department and help to keep the players entertained instead of annoyed. With all of the exploration and replay possibilities it will be hard for anyone to find another game that offers so much for 1200 Microsoft Points this year. Any fan of the original will surely scoop this up like they would a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and those that aren't familiar with the 1st will be pleased to have made a worthy purchase for their game library.

One difference between Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Quest 2 is evident the minute you begin the game. The overworld is gone, replaced with an isometric close up view of the world. This helps give a more fantasy/RPG feel to the game, though it would have been nice to find some way of including both the overworld and this new view. The second difference you'll find is that rather than just using puzzles for combat, you'll use them for just about every action you would expect to take in an RPG. Finding treasure, disabling traps, opening locked doors, even putting out fires are all accomplished by various puzzle minigames. This gives you a nice change of pace from the standard combat puzzles. Next, there are no more spells to unlock, beasts to capture, or castles to build. Instead, . There are dozens of weapons and armor for you to choose from and upgrade, each with their own benefits. This adds a nice new layer of strategy to the game that makes up for the removal of the other features. Finally, Puzzle Quest 2 has 5 colors of mana this time and there are no gold coins or experience gems for you to collect during battles. Instead, you collect gauntlets, which allow you to use the various pieces of equipment you can now find and equip.

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