Parents' Guide to

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

A puzzle game with a unique fantasy RPG twist

Game Xbox 360 , PSP , Nintendo Wii , Nintendo DS , Windows , PlayStation 2 2007
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 1 parent review

spirited_mama
spirited_mama Parent of baby, 2 and 5-year-old
October 17, 2009
age 12+

Great for grown ups too!

This is a grown up favourite at our house, though I'm sure teens and tweens could get into it. It is a truly great puzzle game with a quest theme to keep you interested.
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

PUZZLE QUEST: CHALLENGE OF THE WARLORDS is a reworking of the popular PC puzzler Bejeweled, with the added (and unusual) twist of being draped over a role-playing game framework. Here's how it works: Each puzzle in the game represents a fight against a rat, troll, zombie, or some other nefarious beast. Both you and your foe have a set number of hit points that decreases each time three skull pieces are cleared from the board. Other icons on the board have value as well, such colored spheres, which symbolize magic used to cast spells against foes. Upon completing a puzzle/battle, players earn money and experience and can level up their characters or buy new items to assist in future battles.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (3 ):

The aim of this unique game is to provide purpose to the otherwise monotonous experience of stringing together three similar icons to make them disappear, over and over again, puzzle after puzzle. And while it takes a bit of imagination to get used to the idea of puzzles supplanting battles, the role-playing shtick does provide a kind of contextual framework and grander objective to puzzle-solving that's missing from just about every other game in the genre. You'll likely find yourself propelled from one puzzle to the next not just because the puzzles are fun (which they are), but also because you feel that recognizable RPG itch to keep playing just a little longer until you level up your character one more time.

And it's a good thing that added incentive exists; Puzzle Quest offers dozens of hours worth of puzzle-solving, which, even with a moderately engaging story to help drive things along, can make things a bit repetitive.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how well or badly they think the genres of puzzle games and fantasy role-playing games complement each other. Do you enjoy engaging enemies by challenging them in puzzles as opposed to fighting them with weapons and magic? Did the fantasy story hold your attention and make you eager to play more puzzles? Or do you prefer playing puzzle games that don't offer any sort of narrative?

Game Details

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