Puzzle Kingdoms

Take a spot of Bejeweled-style puzzling, then tack on an element of role playing and, by rights, you should end up with some kind of hideous hybrid aberration.

In fact, the relatively recent trend for mashing up these genres has produced several enjoyably addictive games such as the supremely popular Puzzle Quest.

Though not a direct sequel, Puzzle Kingdoms proudly professes to come from the same development team as Puzzle Quest and shares several characteristics with its forebear.

There’s a familiar fantasy setting, for example, and a similarly massive map to explore. More importantly, Puzzle Kingdoms has a similar focus on puzzle-based ‘battles’ against the computer’s AI, with the objective here being to match three coloured tiles on the board by moving rows to line up the colours.

Kingdoms goes one further than its predecessor, though, by adding elements of another genre: real-time strategy. It does this by providing simple army-building and troop-management features. The cash earned in battle pays for extra troops, while uncovering new areas unlocks different troop types and hero characters, both of which can use their unique skills to help you win in battle.

The battles themselves take on a strategic element too, since you need to try and prevent your opponent from amassing resources. Different colours represent power-ups for troop attacks – as well as powering up your own army.

Relatively crude graphics and low presentation values are the only things that let the game down. But what it lacks in visual finesse, Puzzle Kingdoms more than makes up for in originality and playability.

PEGI age rating: 3+