Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Chapter 1: Battle of Gruulkar is quite a mouthful to say.  The chapter one indicates we should be getting two more chapters of this planned trilogy hopefully sometime in the near future.  There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the idea of breaking this classic game up into three chapters and charging $9.99 at the App Store for it, but we aren’t here to discuss pricing, it’s all about the gameplay.

First, we must address the giant elephant in the room.  Yes, there were some initial problems with version 1.0 of Puzzle Quest.  The textures were drab and very blurry.  The in game text was nearly impossible to read.  There was also the issue of your hero being somehow lost due to a save game bug along with various performance issues.  These are all legitimate complaints and I can absolutely understand why most fans of the series were upset when the game was initially released.  Now, fast forward to today.  We have the updated version 1.1 that allegedly fixed all of these issues, so what could be left to complain about?  In a sense, Puzzle Quest should be perfect.

This is my first time playing any version of Puzzle Quest.  I have never been the puzzle genre’s number one fan, but I do enjoy an occasional RPG from time to time, so you can imagine my delight that Puzzle Quest brings out the best qualities of both of these genres.  Puzzle Quest has a mix of casual and hardcore elements so it should be accessible to almost any gamer looking for an engrossing gaming experience.  It is a simple match three turn-based puzzle game with fantasy, magic and mana thrown into the mix.  I really can’t think of a more clear way of explaining it, the problem is it doesn’t do the depth of the game any justice.

At the beginning of the game you can choose from eight different classes.  Transgaming has included all of the content from the Revenge of the Plague Lord Puzzle Quest expansion.  This includes the exclusive magic, spells, classes and everything else.  When you have finally chosen your character, the game starts out simple, you learn the basics of the game through training exercises that allow you to get a feel of what it is you must accomplish.

The idea is to travel the map by taking on main and side quests, just like any other RPG.  When you defeat enemies and finish quests, you are rewarded with gold and experience points.  You can use all of these assets to upgrade your character and your citadel.  The citadel is where you will be able to do more than just upgrade your character’s attributes.  Here you can build structures that allow you to capture enemies, learn their spells, train mounts and everything else.  By adding all of this to your arsenal, you gain different abilities that will assist you in your fight against evil.

As for the puzzle portion of the game, whenever you encounter an enemy on the map you are brought to the puzzle screen.  Here you will take on your enemy in a head to head fight to the death.  The pieces of the puzzle represent different things.  The four colored pieces are the mana that you must collect to use spells and special attacks.  The purple game pieces add to your experience at the end of the battle as well as gold coins that of course add to your treasure.  Different types of skulls are placed randomly on the board, you must use these to attack your enemy.  Match three or more skulls to damage your opponent just like all of the other pieces.  You can always match more than three, adding even more damage, bonuses or even an extra turn.

Mini puzzle exist when you have defeated an opponent three times or more.  You can choose to attempt to solve the mini puzzles or just fight the opponent as usual.  The advantage of capturing an opponent is that you can use their spells or attributes to your advantage as long as your citadel is equipped to handle them.  The objective of the mini puzzle is to remove all of the pieces of the puzzle through the normal matching sequence.  The difficulty is that if you remove the wrong pieces at the wrong time, you are stuck with a piece or two left over and you must try again.  Trust me, they look easy but can be infuriatingly difficult.

This is a turn based puzzle game so the players must use all of their knowledge to defeat the opponent.  For example, many spells use up a turn so if you see four pieces in a row which gives you an extra turn, match those pieces first.  Players can also use a defensive strategy, using up or moving pieces so your opponent can’t collect the necessary mana or skulls needed to win.  Penalties exist for making non-existent moves.  For example, if you decide to switch two pieces that cannot be switched, you will be penalized with +2 damage.  Keep your fingers nimble and think it through, this is a touch based game so accidental taps could cost you the match.

Puzzle Quest is a long and sometimes challenging game.  The story is a standard fantasy affair, but it will keep most fans of the genre interested.  If you choose to purchase the future chapters of the game, your character will be transferred so you want have to start all over.

In the end, Transgaming still hasn’t been able to perfect Puzzle Quest as we may have thought from the 1.1 update.  It is a giant leap in the right direction.  The game is still sluggish and the main loading screens are especially slow.  The framerate can randomly drop during the puzzles as well, but since this is a turn based game it doesn’t have any affect on the gameplay.  The text has been cleaned up and enlarged in most areas along with more vibrant graphics, but some of the text bubbles are still quite small and difficult to read.

If you haven’t experienced Puzzle Quest yet at this point in your life, I fully recommend to give it a try for the iPhone/iPod Touch.  The 1.1 update fixed many of the problems that plagued the launch version and Transgaming wasted no time responding to the complaints.  Puzzle Quest has made me put in the most hours of any portable game to date hands down and I am thrilled about it.  Hopefully everyone can just put aside those hard feelings and just enjoy it for what it is.

Overall: 8 out of 10

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