Gems of War

Genre: Match-3 Puzzle / RPG

Players: 1, Online Social and Competitive Features

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES

Gems of War, made by the same folks who made Puzzle Quest, is a free-to-play Puzzle/RPG hybrid that shares much in common with Puzzle Quest. It’s a match-3 game using Bejewelled-like gameplay where the multicolored pieces you clear on a board fuels attacks and magic spells in a competitive battle with an opponent. On a cursory view of the game, it is so similar to Puzzle Quest that it’s a wonder they didn’t simply call it Puzzle Quest 3 or Puzzle Quest Free-To-Play. However, there are some differences in the details.

Firstly, while in the original Puzzle Quest you outfitted your character with spells and equipment, in this game combatants don’t have one character but a team, with each bringing their own unique stats, spell, and color affinity. This also means that combatants can directly target one of the enemy’s team to disable them, or they can fill in empty slots on their team with “summons” to replenish their party. It’s an added element that gives the game some nice nuance.

The game’s multiplayer component is also much different this time around. Where Puzzle Quest had players challenging themselves directly, in this game, players can challenge each other online by leaving a team of “defenders” that the game’s AI will take over in battles representing you, and you can choose teams of enemies other players have put together to challenge.

While this might seem like a step down from being able to play live against an opponent, in many ways this works much better. In the original Puzzle Quest, you always had to deal with the problem that a player who grinded their character more would always have the advantage, but here, despite the huge potential this game had to be a pay-to-win nightmare, the fact that you can choose your team of opponents means that you don’t need to worry about being outclassed by someone who played longer (or spent more), or conversely you can gun for tougher teams in the hopes of snagging a bigger reward for taking out an overpowered opponent.

Also, not playing live opponents works surprisingly well in that you can feel free to take your time choosing your moves, since you aren’t making a human opponent wait. And of course there are guilds to join and team goals to aim for, although again all of this requires little active interaction with others, which I would have thought would be a huge disappointment, but it is surprisingly liberating. While I am frustrated by this game’s lack of any sort of local multiplayer, overall I have to say I am surprised and delighted by the direction this game’s multiplayer has taken.

That’s not to say that it’s all good. Gems of War carries over Puzzle Quest’s problem of having a terrible story players simply will not care about force-fed to them. There’s a button you can press to skip it, but I kinda’ wish there were an option to disable the story entirely, since it does nothing but slow things down.

As for how the presentation goes, this game uses clean, high-definition visuals with some really beautiful hand-painted artwork. There’s nothing here that really impresses, but everything nevertheless looks good and is presented in a clean way that streamlines the gameplay. The music, also, is very nice, though it can get a bit repetitive.

As for the microtransactions, yeah, this is a free-to-play game and as such the game will definitely be pushing players to spend money on its multiple in-game currencies. However, I never felt this to be necessary, and the game provides plenty of fun opportunities to earn these currencies in the game. And as I stated before, while this threatened to enter “pay to win” territory, I never felt like I was in an unfair fight I didn’t want to enter.

I’ll just out and say it – I like Gems of War much better than I ever liked Puzzle Quest, and I loved Puzzle Quest, at least back when it was first released. Those looking for a fun, deep Puzzle game experience will find a lot to love in Gems of War, and needn’t worry about the game’s microtransactions if they can simply ignore them – the game provides plenty of enjoyment without ever spending a single dime. Just don’t hesitate to reach for that “skip” button when the game tries to push its terrible plot at you.

tl;dr – Gems of War is a free-to-play Puzzle/RPG hybrid much like its predecessor Puzzle Quest, but Gems streamlines the gameplay, gives it some nice nuances, and elevates the multiplayer by having players challenge each other indirectly, giving them the freedom to choose how tough an opponent they want to take on. The microtransactions here aren’t too bothersome, and the only complaints I have are a lack of local multiplayer and the terrible story. However, the Puzzle gameplay here is top-notch, and fans of Puzzle games should consider this one an absolute must-have on the Switch.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Value, Most Overlooked, Best Puzzle Game

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