There are few games in my long, loooong history of playing video games that I’ve sunk more time into than the first Puzzle Quest. I probably put 50 hours into it on the DS and then later when I got my wife hooked on it, I played it all over again and put at least another 60-70 into it. It’s a combination of Bejeweled, classic RPG elements, and crack cocaine….except it’s more addictive. The sequel doesn’t mess with the formula and successfully adds new elements like weapons and armor into the gameplay. In PQ, you’ll travel the world, questing and your battles with your typical RPG monsters are fought out over what is essentially a Bejeweled board. It’s very simple, but the depth of the strategy and varieties that you can get out of that formula is amazing. The biggest change in PQ2 is that now while traveling the world, the camera takes a top-down view, very much in the vein of old school PC dungeon crawlers. It’s a big improvement and makes the game feel more like a RPG than a board game. The biggest complaint is that the depth of the first game isn’t there. You can beat the game in 30-40 hours and that’s all there is to do. The first game…well I think I’ve illustrated how much of a time sink the first game was and I NEVER EVEN GOT TO THE END! PQ2 is also significantly easier than the first game to the point where it’s not even much of a challenge for puzzle questing vets. But really if my only quibble is that it’s a really great long game instead of a really great game that’s so long it borders on a lifestyle choice, that’s not much to criticize. Perfect for blowing hours or if you just want to play something for a few minutes inbetween things, Puzzle Quest 2 is a worthy successor to one of the most addicting games of all-time.
9.25/10
Killing Time 