In a world of ever changing complexity, the videogame world certainly ceases to be any different and that’s where the XBLA version of Wits and Wagers comes in. A trivia game for the non-trivia in all of us, plus a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure.

At first glance, it’s relatively hard to figure out what Wits and Wagers is, much less what its about. It doesn’t look like every other game out there, nor does it invoke anything of the past trivia(ish) games outside of the much often mentioned You Don’t Know Jack. Then again, Wits and Wagers takes a very different approach that’s ultimately something everyone can play and not feel cheated, because they aren’t a trivia buff hence the wager half of the game.

Once a game is started you’re presented with a avatar selector that gives you quite a bit of choice to pick from as your representation. Sadly, this only includes picks from different choices of “heads” you’d like to sport, but as one of the features of this game instills, you’re able to use the Xbox Live Vision cam as you head instead of the other choices making it feel a little more organic by nature. Following on with that is the presence of what can only be called the Achilles heel of the entire experience with Wits and Wagers in it’s Xbox Live Arcade form, the presentation.

The first few times you’ll play through a game of Wits and Wagers the presentation is rather refreshing to say the least. It doesn’t try to beat you over the head with lots of big and over exhausted flair like most games will almost certainly try to do to differentiate itself from the field. Unfortunately, that very fact is what will mostly likely grate on you over time with this game. Every time through you’ll be presented with the exact same presentation cues time after time, but if that’s a thing you’d not care about or even notice, the constant “station verification” of the announcing of “Wits and Wagers” may not bother you. Once you get passed all of the ancillary things about Wits and Wagers the only thing left is the actual Trivia game and it’s mighty fun once you get the gist of the rules which should only take a few go around’s before you’ll be betting with ease.

The first thing to know about Wits and Wagers is that you don’t need to be a trivia buff in the slightest. What you will need to know is what you think everyone else your playing with knows, and what I mean by that is rather simple. What you know is only the beginning. All answers to every question are answered wagered against how many chips you have in your stash. Every answer will be a number up to or closest to the answer without going over( similar to The Price is Right if that helps you). You’ll progress through 7 rounds of one question each until the winner is declared at the end by how many chips they have in hand. Sound simple enough to you? Well, it really is that simple. Calling this the perfect game so far for the non knowing non gamer is just about right. The only button you ever use is the “A” button with the “B” button used here and there for menu navigation. Other than moving your menu selection around with the left analog and the occasional right analog stick movement for your avatars appendage flailing as it were and that’s about it.

Tasked with answering each question isn’t what you’d think. Getting closest to the answer is all that you need. Each player in the game will choose there more or less “guess” then put down bets on what answer out of the lot is the correct or perceived best answer. Not matter what you pick, your still very much in the running to win big with a great bet. Put it this way, if you answered wrong by going over, but bet your chips on the answer you that was better than yours and it turns out to be the closest or right, you win your bet despite picking a wrong answer. Remember, the winner of the game after all rounds are complete are based on how much loot you have, not what you got right and wrong. Still, you can bet on multiple answers to lighten the risk of making a bad bet. Once you go through all seven questions and the winner has been crowned (which shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes or so), rinse and repeat the fun. The questions are quite varied and it’ll take you a while to get through all of the initial lot. Mine that all of this can be done over Xbox Live with up to six people.

With all of that said, there isn’t much to Wits and Wagers and that may be just the way you’d like it to be especially if your looking for something to play with the family. Being a trivia buff isn’t going to get you any advantage and there has to be something to say about that. Any and all are sure to have quite a bit of fun with Wits and Wagers, that is if you can overlook the presentation as it gets dull after the few dozen times you’ll see and hear it. All in all, Wits and Wagers is a great time in moderation as it’s clearly the best attempt this side of Uno on Xbox Live Arcade that’s easy for all to play no matter your skill level or “Wit”.

Graphics: 25%
- Texture & Image Quality - 4 points
- Framerate Quality - 5 points
- Technical Effort - 2 points
- Overall Art Direction - 7 points

Audio - 20%
- Sound Effects - 3 points
- Soundtrack - 2 points
- Voicework - 3 points
- Sound Quality - 4 points

Gameplay - 25%
- Storyline & Attachment - 8  points
- Character Control - 7 points
- Interface & Menus - 5 points

Replay Value & Multiplayer - 20%
- Fun Factor - 10 points
- Xbox Live Features - 5 points
- Downloadable Content - 5 points

Achievements - 6%
- Challenge - 2 points
- Worthiness - 2 points

Above and Beyond - 2%

Overall= 76 out of 100

Wits and Wagers The Board Game review coming soon.

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-

So, I am here providing you with a review of the aquatic-shooter from Chair Entertainment, Undertow.  Does it stack up as one of the more high quality Live Arcade games out there? How does it stand out in terms of playability? Well if you’d like to learn about these things and more, read on and enjoy the review.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to fight a battle of the ages underwater. Having the ability to control different races and race to acquire control points or wipe out the enemies army. To be able to control the ocean depths with nothing to stand in your way. To have an adventure in these waters that I will certainly not forget. Well folks, what I just described is the basic jist of just what Undertow is. A first for developer, Chair Entertainment, Undertow is licensed under Unreal Engine 3. Something I believe is a pretty big deal. Undertow brings us nothing less but sheer quality and entertainment in this aquatic-shooter.

When you first enter the game, the first thing you’ll notice is that its played completely on a 2D plane. Which is great because we need as many of those games as possible in this community. The second thing I hope you’ll take a gander at, is the wonderfully vibrant and colorful 3D graphics that bring the wonderful ocean deep to life. It is certainly inspiring to see how the developer here was able to craft these two planes together and give us jaw-dropping textures and lighting effects all in the right places. There aren’t any glaring glitches or hiccups that could be spotted with the naked eye.

With enough depth to fill a casual gamers heart full, there is a bit of hardcore love thrown in there as well. Undertow gives you the chance to take control of 3 different races (Alantian, Nemoidian, Iron Marine) along with choosing 1 of 4 unit types (Marine, Corsair, Destroyer and Dragoon). With your race and unit selected you are thrusted into battle as you must take control of as many enemy bases as possible. There is no time limit here, but only a max army unit that you should keep track of as those units can diminish pretty quickly in the heat of battle. The first player to control all bases or wipe out the others army, wins. To add to the depth of the title, you can upgrade your units after defeating your enemies while in battle to gain the better advantage in the end.

Undertow follows a fairly interesting plotline. Although, it is pretty linear and straightforward, its easy to follow along. Characters are about as flat as you can come by, but its not exactly something that carries much weight in the over all picture. It’s mostly used as something that keeps the campaign moving and pushes you back into the action.

The control scheme has a pretty easy set up. With the left control stick you control your unit in its basic direction. For the right control you fire your weapons in any direction needed, you are given unlimited ammo, so you don’t have to worry about finding ammo boxes…etc. To add to the fun, you can dart away from the battle using the right trigger and boost with speed using the X button. To change your unit before you re-spawn into the fight, just press any direction on the d-pad.

Undertow boasts a respectible 15 level single and 2 player co-op campaign, along with two multiplayer modes (team conquest and deathmatch). One of the first titles to support 16 players in multiplayer to add to the fun of those multiplayer modes. 200 achievement points in totlal are awarded when completing various objectives.  A congratulations to Chair Entertainment, for keeping all of this under the 50 mb constraint.

Finally, I would like to add that if you’re looking for a title that’s easy to pick up and play, give you that warm feeling in your stomach, Undertow might be just what you’re looking for. As I said, it’s a title built for the casual gamer at heart, but with a little hardcore love thrown in. I hope you won’t have any regrets spending your MS points on this title.

Jereme “Restless Devil” Puik

Yahtzee Croshaw actually likes another game and it just so happens to be Call of Duty 4. Seriously though, he praises Call of Duty 4 for “nearly” the entire video. It’s about time that Mikey takes a back seat as Yahtzee likes it, he does, he does.

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-

We’ve all been there when it comes to reading game reviews. Swearing up and down to yourself that what ever review it is, it must be wrong, because you don’t happen to agree. Well, it time that the reader here how it should be done, Reading reviews that is. OXM’s Dan Amirch has had it with the whole misuse of game reviews and has decided to let the readers know how (not) to read a review.

If you’ve ever had a similar “no way is that game a 9, it’s a 7.5 at best” reaction, take a step back and ask yourself a question: Why are you reading that review in the first place? Are you reading it to seek out advice as you make a buying decisions (which is why OXM writes its reviews), or are you looking for some published article that supports the opinion you’ve already formed?

As to add to that very paragraph of Dan I’ll say this one thing. Numbers are one thing, but the words that follow them are what really matters, but then again you’ve probably already made up your mind by then anyway.

[Via OXM Online]

-William “thewilleffect” Bell- 

Updated: I changed the values slightly based on community response and my own impressions of the influence each category should carry. I felt that sound, while critical, shouldn’t be equal to gameplay. Any more recommendations? I truly enjoy hearing what you all have to say, positive or negative.

Happy Holidays ladies and gentlemen! On behalf of the Xbox Domain, I want to say Merry Christmahanukwanzakah to all and let you know what one of our New Years Resolutions will be (after we’re done partying). No, we aren’t losing weight…

In light of the whole Gerstman/Gamespot folderol that happened a few weeks ago, The team here at Xbox Domain has decided to implement a reviewing rubric for all the games that get their due justice. Even though we are an independent gaming blog, we are no less susceptible to the accusations of bias that the internet doles out like cake (and yes, the cake is a lie!) For that reason, we have developed a rubric, which is just a fancy teaching word for grading plan, that breaks down games into a point spread. Then we just add up the points and call it a day. It’s an easy 100 point scale that the reader can look at and decide whether we’re still biased jerks or if we are really being fair. I personally hope it’s the latter.

So, without further ado, here’s how we roll:

Graphics: 25%
- Texture & Image Quality - 5 points
- Framerate Quality - 5 points
- Technical Effort - 5 points
- Overall Art Direction - 10 points

This section will be dedicated to how the game looks (obviously). The sections are scored on a point system that gives the reviewer the opportunity to give points where the graphics are good, and take away where graphics are teh suxxor. If the textures are stunning, but the frame rate skips like a school girl, the reviewer can give a full 5/5 points to the first category and 0/5 points the second.

Audio - 20%
- Sound Effects - 5 points
- Soundtrack - 5 points
- Voicework - 5 points
- Sound Quality - 5 points

This section works the same as Graphics, but it’s for…. sound. Amazing. Everyone still with me? Cool. Rolling on.

Gameplay - 25%
- Storyline & Attachment - 10 points
- Character Control - 10 points
- Interface & Menus - 5 points

This section covers all the design elements that go into the game itself. Is it story driven or is it an action slash-fest? Does the character control like a geriatric patient? Can you even get into the game using the menu system? All of these are valid concerns and we’ll tell you about them.

Replay Value & Multiplayer - 20%
- Fun Factor - 10 points
- Xbox Live Features - 5 points
- Downloadable Content - 5 points

Not all games are created the same (thank God), so we are using this section to cover the longevity of a game based on its level of fun. Since some games are single player only (Bioshock) and others are heavily dependent on multiplayer (Shadowrun), the reviewer can break down each section based on the games features instead of penalizing the game for a lack of features.

Achievements - 6%
- Challenge - 3 points
- Worthiness - 3 points

This section, although abhorred by most, is of great personal value. I am a ScoreWhore and I’m damn proud of it. As a result of a select few game companies wussing out on a good Achievement system, and most game sites not even acknowledging their existence, we are going to grade a game’s Achievements. But OMFGWTH? How can you grade Achievements? Easy… how hard are they to get and are they worth your time getting?

Above and Beyond - 4%

This last section is like bonus points on your final exams. It’s a way for the reviewer to look at the game as a whole and rate the whole game as a cohesive experience. Did the developer do anything unique or special? Did they pump out crap like a soldier with Dysentery? If there is anything that sets a game above similar genre games, this will be the place to get some extra points.

So that’s how it’s going down from here on out. It’s certainly subject to change if we find that one category isn’t weighted properly or is biased towards one type of game. If you’d like to use our rubric, please ask first by contacting the editor. We worked hard on this and would appreciate that courtesy. Any questions class? Class dismissed.

David “Whet Wurm” Wetty

Updated: I changed the values slightly based on community response and my own impressions of the influence each category should carry. I felt that sound, while critical, shouldn’t be equal to gameplay. Any more recommendations? I truly enjoy hearing what you all have to say, positive or negative.

Happy Holidays ladies and gentlemen! On behalf of the Xbox Domain, I want to say Merry Christmahanukwanzakah to all and let you know what one of our New Years Resolutions will be (after we’re done partying). No, we aren’t losing weight…

In light of the whole Gerstman/Gamespot folderol that happened a few weeks ago, The team here at Xbox Domain has decided to implement a reviewing rubric for all the games that get their due justice. Even though we are an independent gaming blog, we are no less susceptible to the accusations of bias that the internet doles out like cake (and yes, the cake is a lie!) For that reason, we have developed a rubric, which is just a fancy teaching word for grading plan, that breaks down games into a point spread. Then we just add up the points and call it a day. It’s an easy 100 point scale that the reader can look at and decide whether we’re still biased jerks or if we are really being fair. I personally hope it’s the latter.

So, without further ado, here’s how we roll:

Graphics: 25%
- Texture & Image Quality - 5 points
- Framerate Quality - 5 points
- Technical Effort - 5 points
- Overall Art Direction - 10 points

This section will be dedicated to how the game looks (obviously). The sections are scored on a point system that gives the reviewer the opportunity to give points where the graphics are good, and take away where graphics are teh suxxor. If the textures are stunning, but the frame rate skips like a school girl, the reviewer can give a full 5/5 points to the first category and 0/5 points the second.

Audio - 20%
- Sound Effects - 5 points
- Soundtrack - 5 points
- Voicework - 5 points
- Sound Quality - 5 points

This section works the same as Graphics, but it’s for…. sound. Amazing. Everyone still with me? Cool. Rolling on.

Gameplay - 25%
- Storyline & Attachment - 10 points
- Character Control - 10 points
- Interface & Menus - 5 points

This section covers all the design elements that go into the game itself. Is it story driven or is it an action slash-fest? Does the character control like a geriatric patient? Can you even get into the game using the menu system? All of these are valid concerns and we’ll tell you about them.

Replay Value & Multiplayer - 20%
- Fun Factor - 10 points
- Xbox Live Features - 5 points
- Downloadable Content - 5 points

Not all games are created the same (thank God), so we are using this section to cover the longevity of a game based on its level of fun. Since some games are single player only (Bioshock) and others are heavily dependent on multiplayer (Shadowrun), the reviewer can break down each section based on the games features instead of penalizing the game for a lack of features.

Achievements - 6%
- Challenge - 3 points
- Worthiness - 3 points

This section, although abhorred by most, is of great personal value. I am a ScoreWhore and I’m damn proud of it. As a result of a select few game companies wussing out on a good Achievement system, and most game sites not even acknowledging their existence, we are going to grade a game’s Achievements. But OMFGWTH? How can you grade Achievements? Easy… how hard are they to get and are they worth your time getting?

Above and Beyond - 4%

This last section is like bonus points on your final exams. It’s a way for the reviewer to look at the game as a whole and rate the whole game as a cohesive experience. Did the developer do anything unique or special? Did they pump out crap like a soldier with Dysentery? If there is anything that sets a game above similar genre games, this will be the place to get some extra points.

So that’s how it’s going down from here on out. It’s certainly subject to change if we find that one category isn’t weighted properly or is biased towards one type of game. If you’d like to use our rubric, please ask first by contacting the editor. We worked hard on this and would appreciate that courtesy. Any questions class? Class dismissed.

David “Whet Wurm” Wetty

I have a distinct problem. I may need professional assistance with it. My body craves a sinister addiction that I cannot beat (pun not intended). I’m almost too embarrassed to admit it in public but they say that acknowledging the problem is the first step to beating the problem. So I’ll be honest: I’m addicted to rhythm games. First it was Guitar Hero, the gateway game. Then it was Boom Boom Rocket for that quick afternoon fix. And now Every Extend Extra Extreme (E4) on Xbox Live Arcade comes at me as a happy hardcore substitute. It’s a $10 acid trip that fills in when I can’t rock out to my favorite songs. Read on for more.

Seriously though, I don’t advocate the use of drugs, that is a personal choice between the user and the DEA, but the obvious analogy between E4 and acid dropping is unavoidable. This game, which requires you to navigate a ship around Geiss-inspired backdrops that breed flocks of enemies, is a pulsing visualization suite bent on driving you crazy. Instead of the sensible task of staying alive and amassing points for the slaughter of assorted malicious shapes (although that is available in one of the modes), E4 asks you to do the opposite. You, quite literally, suicide bomb your enemies in hopes that the ensuing chain reaction takes as many of them out as possible. Here’s how it works: You must fly around the screen until you are swarmed by enemies. At the exact moment of critical mass, you detonate your ship. Not only must you time your self-detonation to take out as many bystanders as possible, you must also time your explosion to the beat of the music. Miss the beat and your ship makes a small poof of a pop. Hit the beat dead on and you take out everyone in your immediate vicinity. It’s still possible to take out enemies with a small explosion, but it’s not nearly as effective, or rewarding. That’s about it. Ship? Check. Techno? Check. Explosions? Check. Ridiculously high scores? Check. LSD-inspired visuals? Definitely. Good, now that we’re all on the same page, onto the critique.

Gameplay: I’ll admit, beyond avoiding enemy ships for 3 seconds and timing your impending explosion, there isn’t much game play in the main “Unlimited” mode. That’s it. Navigate your ship to a populated area and pop off your self-destruct feature. Then watch as the screen fills with tiny explosions which chain react into multipliers for getting more and more points. The more multiplier you get, the more points you get and the flashier the graphics dance around. My highest chain reaction was 2122 and it was awesome. After your annihilation is complete, you can collect the floating “power-ups” that are left over from the digital corpses of your enemies. “Quickens” speed up the beats per minute and bring in more and more enemies. When the beats get going faster, it’s harder to hit the beat perfectly… but there are more enemies so its still fun. “Shields” prolong the amount of time you can safely navigate the screen while enemies accumulate… rather line up for slaughter. If your shields go down, the enemies can take you out before your suicide. “Timers” extend the amount of play time you have for a level. You start out with 2 minutes and go from there. Add 5 seconds here and there and you can keep going indefinitely. My longest time was 43 minutes and I garnered 11 trillion points. Yes, 11 Trillion. Finally, there are “Multipliers” that I can only assume boost your score somehow. I’ve been playing E4 for about a week and I’m still not totally sure what all goes into the final score count. As simplistic as this game play sounds, it’s actually quite challenging to balance shield time, detonation/beat time, power-up collection and the countdown timer. Believe me when I say this, your senses will be inundated. Beyond the standard game mode, there is also a shooter-style “kill everything and save yourself” arena. It’s exactly like Mutant Storm Reloaded. And of course there is multiplayer and freestyle modes. I’ll get into a bit more detail on those later.

Graphics: Graphics are tough to grade in E4 because there is SO BLOODY MUCH going on. At any given point, there is your small yellow ship, upwards of a 100 enemies, power-ups, and the some of the craziest background imagery to ever grace a video game. And that’s before your blow yourself up. It only gets wilder afterwards. I’m not sure if the background is supposed to be outer space, inner space (your mind), or some kind of alternate dimension but you can pretty accurately equate it to a rave in your mind. ‘X’ not included. The graphics are simplistic by necessity and are appropriate to the genre. Geometry Wars RE didn’t have wildly detailed graphics either for the same reason. Nobody is looking at graphics when there’s stuff blowing up all around you. I won’t say the graphics are good or bad, just perfectly appropriate.

Sound: Considering the notion that this game is basically an interactive visualization suite for techno music, the music selection should have been a bit more expansive. In the “Unlimited” mode, you get 4 songs from which to choose. Now, before you go off the deep end and say, “OMGZ, 800MSP for 4 songs!?!!11″, can it. There are 4 different modes for single player and an interesting selection for multiplayer over Live. On top of that, the songs vary greatly across the different modes so it’s not “just” 4 songs. However, the need for more diversity is readily apparent. I truly hope that Q? Entertainment adds some DLC to pump up the volume (in every sense of the word). As the “Extreme” in the E4 title goes, the game allows you to “Wiz Ur Muzik” which gives you the ability to play a separate mode to your own tracks. It’s not unlike the freeplay mode in Boom Boom Rocket and I don’t think this was offered in any other versions. Overall, the sound is interesting and should keep you occupied while trying to top your friends’ leaderboard scores.

Replay Value: It is tough for me to nail down a replay value for E4 because it absolutely depends on your gaming style. That could be said about any video game, but most people who like FPS games, buy FPS games. I don’t think the same is true for rhythm games. Each one carries with it a different style that is catered to a certain musical taste. So for me to say, “well, it lasts about as long as Guitar Hero” would be unfair. So I have to put it this way: If you like techno music, and you don’t mind watching stuff blow up, E4 is your game. Will you get bored of it? Well that depends on your tolerance for fast paced electronica or your selection of custom soundtracks. It’s impossible for me to peg it anymore than that. For me, I will probably pick up E4 whenever I need something different than Catan, Puzzle Quest, Halo 3 or Guitar Hero.

Achievements: Hehe, my favorite part of the review. The achievements are perfectly catered to every play style. Whether you’re a gaming novice or a professional scorewhore, you’ll get at least one type or the other. Each are challenging in their own way and are spread out across each mode. I managed to pick up 7 of the 12 in a week’s worth of inconsistant playing. I would have had 8 if I didn’t have to go out for dinner one night with my wife. Oh well, there’s always next time. My favorite achievement is the one that requires you to get a 2000+ chain combo. It’s incredibly frustrating when your explosions mount up to 1800 and then peter out. On the flip side, it’s incredibly rewarding to watch the explosions dwindle to 1 or 2 pops only to ignite the next wave of enemies into a 2000 hit combo. The only achievement I don’t think I’ll ever get is the one that requires 20 wins over Xbox Live. There just aren’t any people playing multiplayer. Ah well, you can’t get ‘em all. Verdict: A worthy “trip”.

Conclusion: I have mixed feelings about E4. On the one hand, it can get repetitive listening to the same type of music for 40 minute stretches. This is something that a fresh infusion of DLC could fix. On the other hand, it’s an 800 MSP ($10 USD) experience to watch the pretty explosions and if you’re of the “alternative recreation” crowd, it may be worth the price of admission alone. Again, I’m not advocating or knocking that lifestyle, but it’s honestly applicable. E4 is a very cool, very unique arcade game that brings out the competitive nature in me much like Geometry Wars RE did back in 2005. Plus, there are the many different modes to try out; there has to be at least one that suits each player. Considering that $10 is actually 40 quarters, look at the cup as half full and know you’re getting a lot more than 40 sessions out of this very unique arcade game. As always, at the very least, download the trial game and give it a spin.  You may find a new addiction.

Special thanks to Q? Entertainment for providing a review copy of the game!

[E4 website]

Dave “Whet Wurm” Wetty

Surprises. Everyone loves surprises. Even people that say they hate surprises secretly love them. Personally, I love surprises so when I started up my review copy of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, I was floored from “Total Shock & Surprise” (also known as “T.S.S.”)*. Read on to find out more.

I have to preface this review by saying that this game’s surprise factor is not reliant on its incredible adhesion to the “match 3” formula so prevalent on Live Arcade. There are wholesomely wonderful additions to the formula that add to the dynamic of the game and make it worth those extra 400MSP. Trust me on this; I’ll tell you why. For starters, what other “match 3” games are there on XBLA? There’s Bejeweled 2, Jewel Quest, AstroPop (kinda), Hexic HD, Hexic 2, Luxor 2, Zuma, Super Puzzle Fighter HD (I’m stretching, I know), and soon to be Poker Smash. I realize I’m being fairly liberal with my classifying of games, but I want to prove a point: there is no lack of puzzle games on Live Arcade. So what sets Puzzle Quest apart from this sea of $10 games? “Match 3″ letters: RPG.
I’ll be the first to admit that I hate RPG games. The last RPG I played through was Final Fantasy VII on PS2 (back when it was *ahem* OK to put games on multiple discs). I’ve honestly tried to give them a chance, but I can’t warm up to them. I feel dirty when I play them, like I’m cheating my brain out of mindless action when I’m doing all that… reading. And I like reading! But Puzzle Quest is different. It’s sneaky, like a mongoose killing a cobra (or a Mongoose running over Master Chief for you Halotians out there). Puzzle Quest presents you with the promise of another simple puzzle game only to slap you in the face with a reason for destroying all those pretty coins. Here’s the skinny…

Gameplay: First, it’s not enough for you to just make combos of 3, 4, or 5 coins. That’s not the point of the game. Your mission is to kill your opponent with powerful spells that can only be launched after you’ve earned enough mana from matching Earth, Air, Fire and Water coins. When you actually decide what type of mana you wish collect, you can then look for combos which will keep your turn in play. What’s that? The game is turn-based?!? Yes, it’s turn-based and the initial thought of this made my stomach wretch. I actually have to WAIT my turn in a slow-ass puzzle game? Lame! But much to my surprise, it turns out that this is the very opposite of lame. It is the pinnacle of antilame (your free made up word of the day). The strategy involved with choosing a combo that benefits you and doesn’t help your opponent on their next turn is what separates this game from the rest. You actually have to think about the repercussions of your combo making. Yes, it’s that deep. I’ll sum this up for you below.

1. Match 3 or more coins to collect 4 types of mana.

2. Match 3 or more skulls to instantly attack your opponent.

3. Collect gold and experience to buy new spells and objects to attack or defend your character.

4. Make sure your combos don’t give your opponent an advantage on their turn.

5. Launch magical attacks against your opponent (or heal yourself) using combos of the mana you collected.

6. Kill everyone in the game this way while enjoying the pretty art.

Sounds pretty deep to me. But wait “there’s more!” While you’re not killing ogres, the undead, wolves, and other nasty things, you are following a story line that asks you to extort neighboring cities, perform side quests, pay for spell research, forge new weapons, build a citadel, and do the dirty work of your overly-grateful queen. It’s downright impressive that Infinite Interactive managed to squeeze all this into 80Mb. This game is the total package.  My only complaint about the gameplay is that the AI is apparently psychic.  The computer opponents have the unique ability to forgo the obvious good move and opt for a random match which leads to a cascading death strike of epic proportions.  Their turns typically last 2 or 3 moves and it annoys the heck out of me.  I like the challenge of beating the AI, but they could dumb down the precognition just a bit to a level of fairness.  I could go on and on about the gameplay (easily the best aspect of Puzzle Quest), but I have other stuff to do.

Graphics: Discussing graphics on an XBLA title seems like an evil thing to do, but given that this is the 360, I’ll drop some thoughts about it’s HD-era prettiness. The game art is really pretty good. I know that a lot of compression had to go into squeezing dozens of screens, miles of dialog, and all those sound effects into a downloadable package. And for that reason, I’m very forgiving of some of the quirks. First the good: the actual battles require very little art. It always looks good and never suffers. Everything is easily viewed and well organized. Outside of the battles, the storyline screens are pretty heavily compressed and not in true HD. But that’s OK because the art is pretty good in a watercolor meets flash animation way. On the world map, where you do your traveling, memories of Legend of Zelda well up inside. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s all perfectly displayed and laid out.

Sound: This is where the game kind of suffers. Honestly, I can almost see the conference room where decisions had to be made about what got cut and what got compressed for the game. Sound got the short end of the stick. The battle sounds are what you expect from a puzzle game, no surprises there. But the voice acting is awful. I think that they should have just gone whole hog and trimmed the voice overs all together so they could boost the art content/animation. Every time the mysterious guide voice says “That was a HEE-ROIC EFFORT!” I cringe. I was fine with the words splashing up and the explosive percussion rocking my controller; I really didn’t need her shouting it at me in mangled Olde English. As for the soundtrack, I am in love. It’s a wonderful score that mixes the best parts of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks and your favorite Michael Bay film. The music is brooding and highly appropriate for the setting. I really hope D3 puts the tracks on their website so I can download them. Brilliant work, much applause.

Replay value: Even though Puzzle Quest is an Arcade title, I have spent the better part of a week playing it. I’ve logged about 12 hours on it so far and I’m only half way through. The game never gets stale and you always want to play one more battle. Puzzle Quest brings with it an addiction quality that can be seen in the greatest retail games. Fans of Halo, Oblivion, Gears of War, Legend of Zelda and Guitar Hero know this trait well. Puzzle Quest may not be as deep (80 hours?!?) as Oblivion in the story department, but it really could have stood on its own as the first $20 XBLA game. I’m so glad they opted for the 1200 MSP mark; it makes it that much more worth it. Especially when you throw in the multiplayer aspect. Once you level up your character, you can take him or her online and battle other people. It takes the RPG element out of the “loner” genre and and throws in some social love. It really is fun.

Achievements: It’s Score-Whore time, kids! Puzzle Quest’s 12 achievements are very run of the mill. You can get 11 of them just by beating the game. The 12th comes from beating someone online. Again, very basic. It’s not a given that you will get them all by playing through the single player mode, mostly because they have performing tasks on the side, but it’s fairly easy to rack them up. I was hoping for some more challenging achievements like Catan’s “1000 Ranked Victory Points” achievement, but I’ll take what they give me and just enjoy the game. Verdict: No surprises.

Conclusion: I would be lying to you if I said that this game is for everyone. So, I have to rephrase it; this game is for everyone that either likes puzzle games, RPG’s, strategy, or Super Puzzle Fighter. I fall into three of those categories (if you guessed all but RPG’s, you get a gold star for paying attention!) so I can safely admit that I loved this game. I will probably continue to play it long after I finish the single player campaign because there are half a dozen other classes with which to play the game. If you do decided to spring the 1200 MSP ($15 USD) on this title, send me an invite to play online. You may be hard-pressed to find someone else playing it online. It’s a shame that this game didn’t get more limelight. I think with the right advertising, people would have more quickly picked up this title much like they did with Lumines Live. Here’s to hoping D3 reaps much success with Puzzle Quest and that we see more of this caliber game surprise the masses soon.

Special thanks to D3 for providing us with a review copy of this amazing game.

*T.S.S. actually stands for “Toxic Shock Syndrome” which occurs when you leave your tampon in too long. Since this is an Xbox site, err on the side of common sense and realize that we are not talking about tampons… unless you are playing Army of Two. Then by all means, stay in the proper frame of reference.

[Puzzle Quest]

David “Whet Wurm” Wetty