Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009First Glance:
The second entry in the Puzzle Quest franchise from Infinite Interactive but this time… in space!
The Short Story:
Travel around the galaxy chasing the big bad while fighting, mining, and gaining levels through the use of puzzles with mines, resources, and the usual gems. Another great entry using the Puzzle Quest equation.
The Score:
Short rounds are easy to get in and it’s portable if you want to pick it up on the Nintendo DS. Puzzle lovers be warned, however. If you’re out to explore, you may tire quickly of the random, timed puzzles you’ll need to beat in order to unlock other quadrants on the map. A solid puzzle game and the inclusion of multi-player combined with the ease of play, shallow learning curve, and good replay value earn Puzzle Quest: Galactrix a solid 5 on the Busy Gamer scale.
Body of review:
Infinite Interactive has found a niche for itself in the puzzle market. A few years back, they started it all with Puzzle Quest: Call of the Warlords which combined roleplaying and puzzle elements to provide an enjoyable experience. The roleplaying elements were in leveling and building your character all the while proceeding down a quest line which would eventually lead to the big showdown.
Building on that equation, Infinite Interactive has produced another gem with Galactrix. The basic elements remain the same; gain experience by performing missions, defeat enemies by matching tiles on a puzzle board, and follow the story line through to the end. A few basics have been changed from Call of the Warlords, however. The board is hexagonal which adds a new twist to the “match three” method made famous by CotW… Gems will move in the direction of your last move rather than falling straight down. This adds a new dimension to the puzzle solving which initially takes a little getting used to.
Another addition are the mining puzzles which allow you to gather resources which can be used to build new items for your ship or sell for credits at the various stations you’ll come across in your travels. There is an economy in play here with some stations offering considerably more for some resources and less for others. Gathering the “required” amount of resources while mining asteroids also results in significantly higher returns for your time so matching carefully is key when playing the mining puzzles.
You’ll quickly find that the ship you begin with is insufficient in regards to hauling cargo but fortunately, your hard earned credits can be exchanged for ships with larger holds allowing you to gather more resources on any given run. And, of course, you’ll come across other ships which may be interested in what you’re hauling… and willing to take it by force.
Combat is similar to CotW in that matching mines instead of skulls will result in damage to your opponent. Different technologies provide your ship with an interesting array of abilities, some defensive, some offensive, with the remainder providing bonuses to your attributes or different ways to clear large portions of the board.
To fully explore the universe, you’ll have to “hack” Leap Gates to travel from one quadrant to another. The puzzles you’ll have to complete for the hacks are timed and have a sequence of colored gems for you to match. As the puzzles are completely random, this can become a bit frustrating since you may have to attempt a puzzle several times before completing the hack. And once you’ve opened a gate, they can and will randomly shut down, forcing you to hack the Gate if you want to use it. A minor flaw in an otherwise outstanding game.
The story feels a bit lackluster when compared to Call of the Warlords and the characters you’ll meet a bit less fleshed out. A big bad escapes from a space station and you’re tasked with hunting it down and stopping it from destroying the universe. Been there, done that. Fortunately, the overall gameplay makes up for those shortcomings.
There’s a great idea at the core of Galactrix and while most of the differences between it and Call of the Warlords may seem superficial, they make for a completely different game. And, happily, it’s one that the Busy Gamer can enjoy.
Gritskrieg – End of Line