The cover of the box to Puzzle Kingdom proudly boasts that it is made by the same people that brought out Puzzle Quest.  My only question after playing the game is, what people?  Puzzle Kingdom plays and looks like a budget port of Puzzle Quest that is just different enough not to warrant a lawsuit.  This unfortunately is pretty much the only praise it can garner.

The main concept behind Puzzle Kingdom is for the player to move titles up/down or left/right to make three or more of them connect and gain magic to attack.  While almost a carbon copy in the description as Puzzle Quest, it lacks any real depth to the combat or upgrade system of the characters, mainly making the entire experience an exercise in frustration.  Mixed in is an enemy AI that is more than happy to play so unfairly that there isn’t really a chance to beat them besides pure dumb luck.

Puzzle Kingdoms also tries to throw together a story to explain why the main hero of the game feels comfortable traveling from village to village and forcefully taking them over.  There is a reason that the game tries to explain, but it ends up sounding more like insane ramblings than justification. 

Poor graphics shroud this game and the amazingly bad box art seems designed to simply scare away people from buying the game itself. Once opened the game looks pretty much like a blurry version of the box art, which is oddly amusing in a “so bad it’s good” kind of way.

The first several levels of the game are almost manageable to get through, although the game offers no attempt at explaining the mechanics used for battle, and most of the time leaves the entire process to the player.  If that could be considered fun there might be someone who would enjoy that aspect, but they would probably be driven away with the amazing amount of load time waiting for the screen to change.  It is impressive that they managed to get long, noticeable load time into a cartridge based game though.

From the moment that the game starts, until you place it back into the case and try to purposely lose, the entire experience is bad.  The entire product feels rushed and is definitely of budget title quality.  Just don’t buy Puzzle Kingdom for any reason, ever.

Not As Good As: Getting punched in the face

Also Try: Throwing money away

Wait For It: Any other game

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