Puzzle Kingdoms, by Zoo Games, is an ambitious endeavor that looks to combine aspects from two very different genres: the classic puzzler and the strategy-RPG. It's an interesting idea, and a breath of fresh air in a world littered with sequels and remakes. Whether or not you enjoy your time with Puzzle Kingdoms, you won't be able to argue that it isn't something different.

To begin your quest, you'll need to create a hero. Unfortunately by "create," Puzzle Kingdoms means choosing male or female and naming your character. Once he/she is set up, you are thrust into a kingdom in the midst of strife. As the beautifully voiced introduction informs you, the kingdom has been struck by famine, and is in dire need of a hero. And lo and behold, your hero is the man/woman for the job! Now this is where the narrative kind of lost me. In order to end this mysterious famine, you need to travel across the land defeating other warriors and their armies. And after playing for a good amount of time, I'm still not quite sure how this aids in ending the peoples' hunger.

Now as for the battles themselves, you'll fight by maneuvering squares inside of a grid, while trying to align three or more squares of the same type. The basics are simple: touching the edge of the grid will slide a new square into that row or column at the particular point that you touched. This also has the effect of sliding the rest of the row/column over by one spot. By doing this you will eventually align three or more pieces, which will subsequently disappear and power up your hero or your army. If you manage to align three green blocks, for example, your archer troops will power up. Do this again, and your archers will be at full power. Once any troop is at full power, you are able to launch an attack on your enemy, dealing damage equal to the strength of your unit. And this is the main objective--to destroy your opponents troops. There are a few added twists, such as magic spells that will unlock as your hero becomes more experienced, but since the game employs only this one puzzle-type, you'll spend most of your time shifting blocks around a grid. It gets repetitive pretty quickly I must say.

While the game uses one true puzzle throughout the game, there are mini-games on the side that are slightly different. They are of course still based on the grid described above, but may instead only give you a certain amount of moves or a certain amount of time to clear the grid of blocks. Some of them are slightly more interesting than the puzzle used for the battles, because they do require a bit of planning and thought. But really just a bit. The main reason for playing these side-quest mini games is that you can unlock new troops and items for your army. In this way, they present an appealing way to invest your hard earned gold back into your army. This adds a good deal of RPG-factor to the mix, as you really feel like your army is leveling up. In addition to new troops and items to power up your army, your hero can gain abilities through experience gained in battle. These abilities will give your troops certain advantages in battle, and add a bit more strategy to your battle preparation. The different heroes that will join your army all have different abilities, so picking the right one to lead your army can be an important decision.

Battles and mini-games, along with other things, can be found by traversing the world map with a goofy, oversized version of your hero. It almost seems like the creative director didn't have time to review the world map, because it looks quite silly and is out of character when compared to the rest of the game. In addition to looking goofy, the controls on the world map are awful. On a number of occasions, and for no apparent reason, the world map scrolled away from my hero. It's not a big deal, but it's definitely not something that should happen in a game released for mass consumption. Thankfully, I didn't experience any gameplay difficulties within the puzzle battles themselves, but my experience with the world map could have been a lot smoother.

I was slightly disappointed by Puzzle Kingdoms - not because I expected a blockbuster game - but because I expected more variety, or at least more polish on the one included puzzle. Basing an entire game around one puzzle game is not a bad idea if that puzzle is deep, challenging, and thought-provoking. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of those impressions from the main puzzle game in Puzzle Kingdoms. That said, it is an interesting endeavor, and there is enough of an RPG flair to the game that you might very well get hooked. I'd recommend this title only to those who absolutely love puzzle games and strategy-RPGs. And even then, I'd be hesitant to recommend it.

Gameplay: 5.4
Prepare for a block-shifting extravaganza. That's 95% of the gameplay. The other 5% consists of traversing the world map, which isn't really all that exciting, and doesn't even work properly.

Graphics: 5.2
This may have earned a better rating in the graphics department if the world map wasn't so goofy looking ... But in actuality, the rest of the game is really nothing special either. That said, it is a puzzle game, so it doesn't really need to rely on graphics.

Sound: 7.4
I was actually really impressed by the quality of the voice acting in the opening narrative. It was actually quite gripping. Some of the sound effects are pretty cheesy, especially the sound troops make when they are defeated.

Difficulty: Easy
There really isn't too much of a challenge here if you have any experience with RPGs or strategy games. Select a good combination of troops, and spend some time earning power-ups for your hero and army, and you'll be halfway to victory.

Concept: 8.1 
I thought this was a great concept. If Zoo Games had executed it with more polish, it could have been a really great game. Hopefully another developer will see the potential in combining the two genres and make some improvements upon Puzzle Kingdoms. I do appreciate a new idea though, so I commend Zoo Games for being innovative.

Overall: 5.7
There are some moments when Puzzle Kingdoms is a lot of fun, almost addictively so. But it relies too heavily on a puzzle game that just simply isn't that deep or fun. Once you learn the basics of the puzzle game, that's it - there's no deeper strategy to hold your interest for an entire quest. There is some interesting strategy in terms of setting up your army, but not in the puzzle game itself, which comprises the great majority of the gameplay.