Review: Neopets Puzzle Adventure
One of the few things that Neopets Puzzle Adventure doesn't have going for it is the Neopets branding, because underneath the digital pet veneer lies a fun, addictive puzzle game. Like a tricked-out version of Othello, Neopets comes from the same folks who brought us Puzzle Quest, and developer Infinite has done a great job of reinventing Othello in much the same way that they reinvented Bejeweled in Puzzle Quest.
While there are bigger, badder games to be had this Holiday season, puzzle offerings are slender and Neopets comes with a great pedigree hidden inside a younger gamer's franchise. Read on for the low-down.
While the story and RPG elements are reminiscent of Puzzle Quest, they've been pared down and don't really figure into the enjoyment of the game per se - the action here is mostly about Neopets' twist on the Othello gameplay, which comes in two guises. Yes, you pick a Neopet to play and embark on a quest concerning two magical amulets, but for the most part you'll be playing Othello/Reversi - and some other games - that have been enhanced by the team at Infinite. That's a good thing, since following a Neopets story probably won't be your top priority.
The gameplay enhancements come in two varieties. The first is shock waves: flip multiple tiles in multiple directions and you'll unleash a shock wave that flips an additional tile from your opponent's color to yours. These can be chained together to overwhelm the board. The second enhancement mixes up the gameplay in a way you'll recognize from Puzzle Quest: as you play along the game you'll collect petpets, which act like Puzzle Quest's spells - giving you the power to take an extra turn, destroy opposing pieces, and so forth.
Leveling up in Neopets means being able to bring more petpets into the game - up to a maximum of 25 - but other than that, leveling won't really affect your game. But again, given the Neopets setting, I found that to be a plus rather than a minus, although some players will lament the absence of more robust character progression.
Neopets sports minigames in the form of three bonus modes: forging, training, and quick draw. Forging and training were also present in Puzzle Quest, although here they don't serve the main quest, which is unfortunate. Training is a memory game and quick draw melds stylus-drawing with the pace and setting of a shooting gallery (in other words, instead of shooting bad guys and avoiding good guys, you'll trace the design you see drawn on cards that pop up). Forging is the real standout minigame, a block-busting game that has you eliminating blocks of the same color until, hopefully, there are none left on the screen.
In the end, and unless you're a major Neopets fan, you're best off just ignoring the word "Neopets." If you're a puzzle gamer like me, you'll find a lot more puzzley fun here to love, and the branding doesn't interfere with most of that puzzley fun. Infinite has put a good amount of work into this game, and it shows.
7 out of 10
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Reviews, Video Games on 22 December 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: capcom, ds, infinite interactive, neopets puzzle adventure, pc, wii
How does the DS version compare to the Wii/PC release? Have you had a chance to try these?
I hear that they have a more involved quest mode, upgradable petpets, and the ability to level up and equip your petpet with items (things that the ds version didn't have).. From what I've heard the battlegame is quite different as well - being point based rather than just having the winner be the player with the most of their colour on their board at the end (resulting in more strategic play - as the petpets can't completely swing the battle in the last turns)..