Two reasons to buy Galactrix for DS

If you’re at all interested in Puzzle Quest: Galactrix — the sci-fi follow-up to 2007’s puzzle/RPG hybrid Puzzle Quest — you’ve likely played either the Flash demo or downloadable PC demo that dozens of other blogs have already posted about. It’s pretty fun, right?

Now, the DS version of the game is far from the “definitive release,” as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC versions will not only have better graphics and visual effects, but online multiplayer support and downloadable content as well. Still, there are at least two obvious reasons why I will stubbornly buy the gimped DS version anyway.

1. Portability. At least two dozen hours of my playtime with the original Puzzle Quest was spent during lunch breaks at work and while driving home from said job (much to the detriment of other drivers).
2. It will be the first version in stores. While the DS game ships on February 29th, the other releases have the vague “early 2009” as a release date.

Those might be simple (and like I said, obvious) reasons, but they also happen to be very compelling reasons, for me at least. Besides, the Galactrix screenshots posted at Games Radar don’t look that bad.

[Disclaimer: For those of you that despise Puzzle Quest, yes, I’m aware that I’m a terrible person for liking what amounts to a match-three puzzle game with a mediocre storyline and RPG twist.]

See also: Galactrix’s AI, Puzzle Kingdoms is Puzzle Quest’s spiritual successor

tags / d3 / puzzle quest / infinite interactive / galactrix

Puzzle Kingdoms is Puzzle Quest’s spiritual successor

A while back, I noticed that publisher Zoo Games has a DS/Wii/PC title due this holiday season called Puzzle Kingdoms, which I assumed was a low(er) budget Puzzle Quest clone, not that I have a problem with PQ knock-offs, as I was a huge fan of the original’s hybridization of the RPG, strategy, and puzzle genres.

But I was wrong! Puzzle Kingdoms is actually a somewhat sequel to PQ, likewise under development by Infinite Interactive and set in the land of Etheria. In fact, it’s the same project that I2’s Steve Fawkner hinted to me a year and a half ago. I totally forgot about that!

Apparently, a late July press release also clarified all this, but I must have missed it, so maybe this is news to some of you, too. Puzzle Kingdoms is as close as we’re going to get to a PQ2, unless, of course, a PQ2 is announced.

Though there’s more emphasis on the strategy portion this time around, I’m not sure on the specifics for this yet. You can read early impressions of the game and see a few screenshots at GameSpot’s preview article.

In my humble opinion, PQ was best as a portable experience — drivers on Cincinnati’s I-71 freeway likely think otherwise, as I spent every day for a month matching gems while driving home from work at 70 mph. Hopefully, Puzzle Kingdom’s DS release will be comparable to the Wii/PC versions.

tags / puzzle kingdoms / puzzle quest / zoo / infinite interactive / ec