Infinite Interactive’s Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords has being getting a lot of positive press and gamers are taken with the title as well. Convinced this was my type of game, I ordered the Playstation Portable version of the game from Play-Asia last week and got it on Tuesday.

I didn’t pay any attention to the manual and simply dove right in. This is a little unusual for me but then I haven’t played any game for over a month and was starved for a good gaming experience.

You’re prompted to create a character the first time you play the game. Note that the game needs 80kb of memory stick space for the settings and 64kb for each character created. Memory space is probably a non-issue for most considering memory stick prices are dropping but I mention it for those who are still using the 32MB memory stick that came with the Value Pack.

You can choose from a wide variety of portraits for your character. Your character can be a white guy, tanned white guy, girly white guy, girly white girl … such tremendous diversity. The portraits are done in the art style of Japanese cartoons or as you younger folk like to call it, “aminay.”

After selecting a caucasian character, you then pick a profession. You may choose from Warrior, Knight, Wizard and Druid. I can only assume English Tutor was too badass to be included. Oh well. Perhaps in the sequel.

Finally, you have the option of giving your white character a custom name. In my younger days, I’d spend a significant amount of time coming up with a suitable name that fit the game and my style of play but these days, eh, my own name will do. There comes a time in a man’s life when he just doesn’t feel like roleplaying a character named “Flaunty Elvesbottom”, I guess.

Then it’s onto the intro:

“Many say the universe moves in neverending cycles: cycles of life and death, cycles of war and peace, cycles of light and darkness.

If that were true, then the lands of the Agarian Knights had known peace for far too long. Their kingdom had been quiet and prosperous for many years.

But soon that part of the cycle would end ..

… and another would begin.”

Aggravating nuts on cycles … yeah, whatever, good sir. Point me the way to the battlefield so that I may give vent to my fury by … playing Bejeweled.

It’s not exactly Bejeweled but it’s close enough that it feels slightly absurd. But make no mistake, playing the game is a compelling experience because the developers have cunningly taken a simple game and given it complexity and long-term playability through the inclusion of RPG elements.

I’ll post more once I get further into it. (I’m struggling with my first boss, Dugog, right now.) In the meantime, here are some links to check out:

• GameTrailers review (5:06).
  On the name: “… it invokes the brainy nerdplay of puzzles with the stigma of basement-bound fantasy role-playing … .” Yeah, sure, Fonz, whatever.
• Tutorial play (9:33).
  The video covers character creation up to the first battle.