Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows)

Puzzle game versions are pretty monotonous. There's always the so-called "New Bejeweled" that only has a graphical refresh, or yet another Tetris game. How many consoles has Tetris been on? (I'm not saying Tetris is bad; it's awesome, in fact, and Tetris Party/Deluxe for the Wii is the best version, in my opinion). Anyway, back to what I was saying: Puzzle Quest breathes new life into the Bejeweled style of gameplay, but this time you're not just mindlessly matching up gems. Instead, the gem-matching is the battle system here. As you go through a typical RPG world, you fight typical RPG enemies by matching up gems. Mana for spells that can be cast must be collected by matching up some different colored gems (blue, green, yellow, and red). Matching skulls can drain your opponent's HP (and if your opponent matches up some, it can take a bite out of your HP). Gold and nullified "purple" gems can be matched as well to get gold and...nothing, respectively. The fight system is fun and relatively undetailed. The only thing that Puzzle Quest has going against it is that the RPG elements are, as I said before, typical. But that's no reason to pass it by. In terms of content, there are some minor references to violence (examples include spells such as "Cauterize", "Singing Blades", and "Bloodlust" and some dialogue and pictures that imply fighting). Other than that and some mild flirting, there's nothing to worry about. Shouldn't be rated E10+, in my opinion. Overall, it's a good and (at $5-20) cheap game that's available on many different platforms (there's a version for every major console, even the iPhone/iPod Touch). Definitely worth a look.