There’s a new game coming out soon for the PSP and Nintendo DS and everyone who has ever played any puzzle game and sort of liked it should definitely check it out. It is called Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and is being brought to us by D3 Publishing and Infinite Interactive. I recently got a chance to get some serious hands-on with the PSP version and I am beyond impressed. I’ve spent probably about 40 hours playing it so far and I can’t get it out of my mind. That’s how good it is.

The underlying puzzle premise is simple. A puzzle board full of colored gems, skulls, and much more, is presented and it is the player’s job to gain mana, experience and money by matching up 3 or more of one element. The twist, of course, is that the skulls are used to attack an opponent and both the player and their opponent have a certain amount of life points available. Once those life points are gone, the match is over. The mana points, four different colors, can be used to use spells gained through various means to directly attack the opponent, cause them to lose turns, affect the board and more.

The above description is a very simplistic break-down of what is actually a very deep experience. It is a role-playing game at its heart. The puzzles are only the method of combat. In the build I played, there were four professions to choose from, Druid, Knight, Warrior and Wizard. Each one has its strengths that will help out when it comes time to battle, from bonuses to mana, the ability to heal and the types of spells they can cast. There are four areas of mastery - Earth, Fire, Water and Air. Most spells require 2 or more types of mana, and the mana is gained by matching the appropriate colored blocks in battle.

Sounds good so far? It gets better. All the standard RPG elements are there, with quests, upgrades, levels and cities galore. Gaining levels means more access to spells, armor and other such staples. Cities can be sieged, and when done so successfully, the player will have another source of income. A citadel can be built, and the citadel has a lot of great advantages, including the ability to capture and learn spells from the various enemies scattered throughout the kingdom. Some can also be trained as mounts. To describe every element the game has, it would take me all day and night, and a few thousand more words, but I think you can gather from the tip of the iceberg, just how much there is to this game.

The PSP controls are intuitive and pretty flawless. The game seems naturally made for the controls the PSP offers, so it will be interesting to see how the developers migrate the control scheme to the DS’s touch methods. If they can pull it off to this level with the PSP, though, I imagine they will have something very special planned for the DS.