Puzzle Quest goes deep in space with Galactrix
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 11:02am by David
I had Puzzle Quest: Galactrix in my DS for a few hours this week and came away impressed. As a fan of the first Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for DS, the news that they were putting out “Puzzle Quest in space” got me salivating. Galactrix is again an addicting game, but the story and world are much deeper than that in Challenge of the Warlords. Characters have much more dialog than before and it’s mostly well written. The universe you fly around in is much larger than the map from Warlords. Even from the few hours I played, there was talk of aquiring more crew members (I already have four) and additional ships. Along with this depth, there are additional load times which became a little frustrating, but actually gives you a break to stretch your stylus cramped hand. Puzzle battles are basically the same, but using a Hexic style game instead of the Bejewled type of game from the first Puzzle Quest.
While it’s a relief that Galactrix isn’t just Warlords coated in sci-fi, it has a much bigger focus on the adventure and story. This was slightly off-putting for me since the first one was more a matter of wandering around and battling without too much thought about who or why you were battling. That said, it’s an excellent game and well worth checking out if you’re into puzzles or RPGs.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:20 am
OMG, NOOOOOOooooooooo. David is a sell out!!! Puzzle Quest: Galactrix for the PC is a mess, and the DS version is unplayable!!! The hit detection is a joke, you can’t even slide your gem properly. On top of that, the game is inferior in every single way compares to the Challenge of the Warlord. Read the gamespot’s review or check out a thread I posted about the game which included many review links:
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/341324/#2097963
Yes I am very good with puzzle games and I got this PC version on the first day via Impulse. The worst gaming purchase I ever did.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:59 am
A few guys on that forum link seem to disagree with you, besides, I woulden’t call him a sell out just because he likes a game you don’t. Besides, “sell out” would imply he was getting money, which I doubt. On the Podcast he sounded like he genuinely enjoyed the game.
In any case, I can’t stand the Puzzle Quest games – I like the idea, and the PC demo seemed really cool when I first played it… but I just bought the first DS game and… it’s really boring.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
@That one guy says
The word is “unplayable,” trust me, it’s that bad. Do you know that you have to wait 5 seconds of load times for every action you perform? Yes, that’s right, I am talking about the DS CARTRIDGE version of the game. Either David is brain dead or he is a sell out, take your pick, or he just haven’t figure out that the game is a mess, which is pretty dumb as well.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This is so cool!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
@RoyalRook – “you can’t even slide your gem properly.”
I didn’t have this problem at all. I could either click on the two gems I wanted to exchange or could slide one gem into the other’s place.
And I totally agree with you about the load times being very off-putting.
That said, I still think it’s a lot of fun and for point of reference, Challeng of the Warlords is a 4-star game to me.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
@David
The load time is only the beginning of the flaws, keep on playing it. You will see. By the time you got the item Bola(Boela?) Mine, you will realize what a horrible game Galactrix truly is. You won’t believe how many mindless hacking you have to do, and oh the gates close on you randomly, even after the hack. Just keep playing it, you will hate the game, trust me. Did I mention that the puzzle part of the game is a joke? You will see. I don’t want to spoil the story, but yea the introduction of the game is the best part.
Warlords was a pretty good game, Galactrix is not even a one star game for me.
@Casino
What’s cool is that you end up buying this. You will love it.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Yeah, so not everybody enjoys the same things in games. I kind of hate twilight princess and halo, but i know a lot of people who think those games are both really great.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:23 am
I kind of agree with RoyalRook. I was annoyed at a few things in the game towards the beginning, but the more I played the more I came to dislike the game. The DS version just doesn’t feel polished to me, which is a shame because I ended up playing the first PQ the most on my DS.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I am in RoyalRook’s boat here, sort of.
The loading screens are absolutely HORRENDOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time you change screens you have to wait 5 seconds, then it will save which takes another 5 seconds. And this is ALL THE TIME!!!
Music is so bland. World is way too big. Too many side-plots and quests that just go everywhere. Computer is still pretty cheap. Having to re-hack gates over and over to get somewhere you already went to.
BUT, the main gameplay is interesting, once you get the hang of how to take advantage of the many directions the gems will move. But, it’s also so overly complicated that it takes the fun out of trying to set up combos etc. like in Challenge of the Warlords.
I bought this the second it came out because I loved Challenge of the Warlords, and this game is such a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. But I already shelled out $30, so I am forcing myself to ignore all the flaws so I can get some quality colored gem matching gameplay in before I dump this game forever and try to get some re-sell value out of it.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
And yes, the detection on the DS is pretty awful. You have to carefully select the gem to move, then select the other gem to move it to. Sliding is a guaranteed “INVALID MOVE” which loses you 5 health points and a loss of turn. Not to mention while in space and you click on planet and try to select something from it’s menu only to find yourself moving through space again.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
@CaptainBoosh
I am so sorry man, it hurts me to know that another person spent his or his parents’ money on Galactrix. I tried to save as many people as I could back then. Well obviously, I played the game longer than you are, so word of advice: dump it NOW. Life is too short for you to punish yourself on something like this. The game has many attractive hooks, because sooner or later now, you will begin to acquire some interesting, yet way over powered weapons, and you will began to feel good about the game, but in truth, that’s where the puzzle part of the game ends, and you are just waiting for your power weapon to fire. Of course when you have realized that, it’s already too late, because you happened to dump more than 15 hours on the game.