The unique Puzzle Quest expertly fused match-3 gameplay with a fantasy setting, turning normal Candy Crush-style puzzles right into a full-on journey full with cutscenes, turn-based battles, and particular powers. Puzzle Quest 2 constructed on the concept additional, including cities and dungeons to be explored, a number of questlines, and increasing on the turn-based match-3 system. Now, a decade later, Puzzle Quest 3 has emerged, stripping away plenty of what made these video games distinctive and providing up a extra streamlined expertise. The result’s a recreation that, whereas enjoyable in spurts, turns into tiresome rapidly because of repetitive and unvaried gameplay beset with rudimentary RPG components.Puzzle Quest 3’s core gameplay loop is unchanged from the earlier video games: matching coloured gems with a view to deal harm to an enemy and acquire vitality used to forged spells and skills. There are a number of methods to play, together with an enormous, 14-chapter story mode, each day and weekly dungeons that give rewards, and aggressive multiplayer to check your characters towards buddies. Progressing via the story unlocks companions who supply particular perks, minions who may help you open chests quicker, and particular occasions that may result in gaining uncommon gear. All of this appears like a sprawling journey that matches proper into the Puzzle Quest motif, but it surely’s once you look beneath the floor that chinks might be discovered within the armor.Puzzle Quest 3Gallery

One of the sport’s foremost issues is how each battle within the recreation, be it within the story or a limited-time occasion, performs out the identical means: an enemy approaches, you match gems to assault, you get attacked, you go once more, repeat. As with earlier Puzzle Quest video games, there are 5 gem colors–red, blue, inexperienced, yellow, and purple–as nicely as a Skull gem that, when joined in a bunch with two others, serves as probably the most highly effective assault on the board. However, there are fewer strikes to make–by utilizing a 5×7 board versus the earlier video games’ 8×8, battles go quicker. When an enemy is crushed, the subsequent one simply walks onto the display screen to take the fallen one’s place and the method repeats itself. Contrast this to Puzzle Quest 2, the place you additionally stroll your character via totally different areas, speaking to NPCs and initiating battles your self. That made you are feeling like a touring warrior on the earth, whereas right here you simply really feel such as you’re enjoying a regular match-3 recreation. There’s no variation to the gameplay here–no main shakeup that modifications issues round even for only one battle.The story mode, thanks partially to its excessive size, is the largest sufferer of this repetition. The enemies your hero faces are principally generic-looking goblins, orcs, and different normal fantasy enemy fare. The occasional cool dragon or big will seem, however there’s not a lot to get enthusiastic about. The solely actual variance when selecting a narrative chapter is what number of cutscenes will play: both one earlier than the battle, one afterward, each, or none in any respect. Otherwise, other than the temporary cutscenes of dialogue, there’s nothing that differentiates the story mode from the each day or weekly occasions. Oh, and do not anticipate a lot intrigue from these cutscenes both, because the story beats a well-known “why are dragons returning to the land?” drum we have all heard earlier than.However, Puzzle Quest 3 does characteristic some gentle RPG components that, in contrast to the battle system, do harken again to earlier Puzzle Quests. Characters can discover a dozen various kinds of gear of their travels, from weapons to armor items to equipment like rings and necklaces. Each piece of armor might be upgraded with assets earned whereas enjoying the sport, as can particular spells that the character can equip and use after breaking a certain quantity of the corresponding coloured gem (blue gems for ice spells, purple gems for hearth spells, and so on). However, the stability for a number of the spells wants addressing; I discovered a Frost Bolt ice spell early within the recreation that I started to name the “win button,” because it scored a one-hit kill nearly each time I used it.Upgrading this gear additionally builds up a Gear Score, which you’ll be able to then use to gauge your readiness for the subsequent story mission. If the enemy rating sits at 200 and also you’re solely at 150, you will have two choices for getting ready: replay a narrative chapter as a Skirmish or attempt a each day or weekly dungeon for higher rewards. Skirmishes might be performed endlessly however supply middling rewards, whereas each day/weekly dungeons have higher loot however can solely be performed twice every per day for gratis, with extra tokens accessible by way of the Event Shop. If that is beginning to sound like a typical microtransaction system, that is as a result of this recreation has them in spades.One would possibly hear “Puzzle Quest 3” and “mobile” and assume the sport is microtransaction-heavy, and so they’d be proper. Crowns are the premium foreign money, however there’s additionally gold cash, gems, occasion tokens for each each day and weekly occasions, keys for opening chests, shards for every sort of drugs which might be wanted to improve that exact gear, meals for upgrading companions–the listing goes on and on. However, even with all of these, the sport is beneficiant sufficient that I’ve not wanted to open my real-life pockets in any respect. I’ve all the time had what I wanted to proceed, even when my Gear Score informed me I’d be outmatched within the subsequent battle, and I respect that. However, not opening my pockets means I’ve missed out on what is maybe probably the most egregious microtransaction system I’ve ever encountered: limited-time improve bundles for brand new companions.As talked about earlier than, progressing via the story provides new members to your staff. These companions do not assist throughout a battle, as an alternative giving perks between missions like elevated stock house or the flexibility to craft random objects. When a companion is first unlocked, the sport instantly generates a bundle of things that is solely accessible for a restricted time and might solely be bought with real-world foreign money. While many of the bundle consists of currencies like gold cash, one of many objects is exclusive to that character and is required to proceed development at ranges 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and each degree after 45.Puzzle Quest 3The concept of a character-specific bundle is sensible, but it surely’s the limited-time providing and the “real-world currency only” rule that makes this really feel underhanded. The bundle instantly flashes on-screen when the brand new companion is unlocked, bombarding you with a one-time restricted supply and seeming like will probably be important on your journey… till you study that each merchandise within the bundle, together with the “unique” one, might be earned in-game. It’s a sneaky transfer disguised as a very good deal, and places a stark blemish on what’s in any other case a fairly lenient microtransaction system.I do not wish to appear solely detrimental on Puzzle Quest 3, as what’s included within the recreation is pleasant. I did have enjoyable matching wits with the sport’s match-3 system, and there have been moments the place I snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat that thrilled me. However, once you maintain it as much as its predecessors, this recreation does not deliver something new to the desk. It’s the identical Puzzle Quest we have seen earlier than, solely now there are limits to sure modes, microtransactions, and a narrative that is barely there.. The stripping away of issues like explorable cities and non-linear world maps skew the puzzle/RPG stability exhausting towards the “puzzle” half, making it really feel much less like a RPG that makes use of puzzles as its battle system and extra like a typical match-3 recreation with RPG components added on as an afterthought. I had hoped for a grand quest, however what I bought solely left me puzzled.