Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

While I am excited for this, sir, I must chastise you for bemoaning the rat. Rockstars ride Rats Alex.

So the first one is Bejeweled with RPG bullshit and the sequel is Hexic with RPG bullshit. I look forward to the third game- Zuma with RPG bullshit.

I was kinda hoping the third would be Lumines with RPG bullshit, then I realized...Hexic and Bejeweled are calm puzzle games. No timer, no blocks dropping. Turn based, is you will. So, no Puzzle Quest: Retris.

Puzzle Fighter >>>>>> Puzzle Quest.

Always.

But what about Puzzle Kombat, eh Justin? Ryu sure as heck never exploded some dude's head after winning, that's for sure. As much as I love Puzzle Fighter for me the edge would have to go to Puzzle Quest. There's just something there that works for me.

Who knows if Puzzle Quest: Stardate Whenever will work the same magic over on the masses, but it is nice to see them changing it up a bit. They could have just as easily changed some sprites and text and made another fantasy themed game or just given the same game a sci-fi makeover.

Also, my initial 360 came with Hexic preloaded and at first I didn't care, but the game totally grew on me. I'm not even sure if this new Puzzle Quest will have similar gameplay (but I'm guessing it's a safe bet). I'm curious though, so I'll bite, and I'll likely play... and play some more.

I fully agree with Justin. I love Puzzle Quest, but Puzzle Fighter is fucking awesome.

It's nice to see them changing up the format a bit and not just making a quick make-over cash cow. I'm not super excited about a sci-fi, space battle experience, but it is a large audience. Maybe we'll see more 'themes' in the future, super heroes? horror? mythology?

Then again, I've put countless hours into the original and still haven't beat it, so I'm in no rush for sequels to steal the rest of my years.

Is there some pattern as to how the gems fall? I haven't figured it out yet.

New gems enter the board from the direction in which you moved the piece you selected. If you select a gem and swap it with the one directly above, the new gems will follow that same upwards momentum, entering from the bottom and "falling up".

Oh duh. Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing gems whenever I close my eyes again.

Intercourse is better than blowjobs. That doesn't mean I'm going to shoo women's mouths away from my johnson.

REP.

Cool, thanks for the tip on the release date, and the link to the demo. I'll be waiting for the XBLA version. Just starting to grasp the strategy of how you line up gems. It's not just swapping two gems to make a match, it actually matters which gem you select first. This game could explode my brain, lol.

I haven't looked for any further details on the game, but I assume the Purple and White gems are something along the lines of the Experience and Gold you could collect in the Warlords game?

I want to like Galactrix but I always seem to screw up at Hexic so I'm afraid I'd just get really pissed at the game.

Yeah, you can see them get tallied up above your weapons. I'd guess that purple adds to your experience, and white is some sort of currency.

If you're telling me I don't have to 'spin' the shapes to line up the colors just swap positions like in Bejeweled, I'll definitely play it. I just saw the hexagonal shapes and assumed it was like Hexic.

Damn you Alex! I haven't fired up CHALLENGE OF THE WARLORDS in ages and now I'm addicted all over again. Can't wait for this one!

Fuck.

I guess I should have sex with my wife now. I probably won't see her much when this comes out. She still hasn't stopped playing the first one.

I'm just going to be hoping week after week that this is the game announced for XBLA Wednesday. But I guess until then, I can play the 360 version of Warlords. Nice review, just adds to my anticipation for this game.

Great review, Alex. I've got this coming tomorrow from Amazon, and am already regretting the time I'll spend with it.

Anyone else playing this? I've put a decent amount of time in on it, and it's pretty fun (although I don't like it as much as Warlords). I'm still trying to figure out which ships/items work best, and hacking through all the LeapGates can be tedious (although not particularly difficult). But overall, it's very solid.

I just realized that it's not coming out for PSP. Come on D3!

Week of March 18th, I thought.

Yeah, I'm playing the DS version. The controls are a little wonky on it, particularly compared to Warlords. But overall not too bad.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...back this love train right the fuck back up.

I know most of you guys are talking about the DS version of Galactrix (which I hear has nice load times?), so I cannot comment on that.

I'm using the PC version and there's a horrible bug where the game crashes every 30-40 minutes or so on (apparently) AMD processors. There's a huge thread on it in their technical forums but no official response yet. Bummer, as I'd like to play with game without this fear of finally bargaining a shop down 10% only to have the game crash.

That said, Galactrix is in no way better than the original PQ. I've got loads of tiny issues, but the main ones are:

1. The larger gameboard is far more prone to luck instead of skill.
2. Hacking gateways does not reward the player in any way...and they close up at random.
3. I cannot fly through space on the back of a giant rat.

So yeah, if you're thinking about buying the PC version you might want to wait until a patch comes out. There's already some user mods that prevent the gates from closing after you defeat them once. I'm sorta on the fence about whether I should install that or not.

The game is decent, but I'm still waiting for a proper PQ2.

Hardware compatibility bugs are exactly why I decided to play games on consoles whenever possible. PC gaming is certainly more stable than it used to be, but it's still a bit of a crap shoot.

Loved the first. Not digging the new one. Keep waiting for it to break open and get better.

I'm finding it to be incredibly addictive, pretty much just like the last one. Still getting a hang of strategy, and the ceding of control once gems start cascading, but overall the mix of RPG and puzzle elements is rock solid. In fact, I pretty much blew most of my Sunday so far, getting into it. Gotta agree about the UI issues though. I found Warlords to have awfully slim active button areas in the menu section, but here the problem spreads into the game world also.

Really hated what I played of this. The feature creep in this game is insane, and they really ruined the good thing they had going with the original Puzzle Quest. Fortunately, this got me to start playing through that game again, and I'm having a much better time.

One flaw in the game design that I don't think has been mentioned (or maybe I'm missing the workaround) is winning against random ships does not get you any credits. Cargo yep, but no cash. So what you're forced to do if you want to upgrade to a better ship, once all the side missions seem to be completed, is to obsessively craft items and then sell them for credits? It's like they're forcing you to play through the most boring part of the game (I only need the damn Vortraag Death Ray and a few other devices, dammit!) Or should just be mining obsessively and selling the raw materials for cash? That has its own pitfalls where you're leaping from system to system looking for the best deal on isotopes. Again, boring. Combat is the best part of the game, they should encourage it when loot gathering.

Also, fuck you for putting me 1 move away from defeating the Luminary Archive only to give them a random 60+ combo.

Combat, mining, haggling and crafting are all basically the same puzzle-solving mechanic. How is any one aspect of the game more boring or exciting than any other?

You can't use your items which is a huge part of Puzzle Quest's strategy. There are no specialty gems. No rewards for combos. The other variations on puzzle solving are a lot more like traditional Bejeweled with a slight twist. I never play Bejeweled because it's boring. I'm okay with hacking leapgates because it has made me a better player, but to have to craft dozens of items that I will never use or go from system to system (with all the load screens) is a bit of a drag that overall influences my enjoyment of the game. Granted, I'll probably grind and loot gather so I can buy a Quesadan Lightship anyways, but I retain the right to complain about it.