Puzzle Quest

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Puzzle Quest until I re-installed it; essentially Bejeweled crossed with RPG elements, it delivers better than many games do, especially considering the genre lines it crosses.

There is quite a story mixed into this one but I've never actually paid that much attention to it, I've just enjoyed the game aspect. The puzzles are not actually solved so much as played until you meet your goal, that goal being to destroy an enemy: Match orbs/icons to build magic or damage and try to defend yourself from the same.

There it is in all its puzzly questy glory

Enemies are defeated by creating skulls in the grid and matching skulls up in three or more's, with the player and the AI taking turns. Gold and experience are also acquired, allowing you to buy better equipment and upgrade spells, which become very important as you go up in levels. The orbs correspond to mana types required for different spells which dramatically alter the play.

7/10 on this one, it's fun and challenging, but it won't appeal to a broad spectrum of players, a little more in depth than casual gamers want, and not enough going on for hard core games, even RPGers. Still, if the above interests you at all, I would recommend this title above any others I've tried.