[PC] - Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Review

[AgtFox]

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Review

Title: Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Platform: PC (also out for DS, soon on XBLA)
Developer: Infinite Interactive
Publisher: D3 Publisher
ESRB: Everyone 10+
MSRP: $19.99 (PC, also available on Steam and GamersGate), $29.99 (DS)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Highly addicting; more complex than original Puzzle Quest; character art is nice; story keeps you going

What's Not: Jumpgate hacking gets old quickly; computer still seems to have uncanny ability to know which gems are outside of play area; multiplayer would work if you didn’t need to know an IP address in order to play

Like many of you, I played a lot of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, the highly addicting Match-3 game from Infinite Interactive. Now they have come out with Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, a game that is both better and worse than the original. The name of the game is the same, you match at least three of the same color in order to fill your abilities while also trying to match at least three bombs or use attack abilities in order to take out the shields and hit points of your enemy.

Unlike the original, the gems are no longer ruled by gravity unless you are in orbit of a planet, so depending on which direction you move the gem, the next gems fill in the same way you moved the original. This means the gems can move in six different ways (up, down, up-left, up-right, down-left and down-right) unless you gain the ability to use gravity, but even then it is only for a certain number of turns. It may take a few battles for you to understand the more complex machinations the base gameplay presents you with, but soon enough you’ll get the hang of it.

The story this time around is that mankind has expanded into the universe and four corporations have taken control of the universe with some added specie factions here and there. One of these corporations are on the path that could spell doom for mankind as a whole You play a recently graduated MRI pilot who is given a small ship and simple missions that turn more complex as you continue through the story sections. Later on you can get bigger ships, add on special weapons, add a crew who can help you in various capacities, etc. Along with this your ship is also capable of mining on asteroids which will give you cargo you can then go and sell at bases or planets so you can buy more things.

The universe itself is rather large and this is where the first major annoyance rears its ugly head. In order to go traveling through the galaxies (which are mapped out with jump lines between them), you have to go through jumpgate portals. Every time you come up to a locked jumpgate you go into a mini-game where you have to complete a certain number of colored Match 3s in a row that are shown on the upper right of the screen. You are also timed on this, so you have to complete the sequence before the timer reaches zero. The first problem here is that if your color match turns into an avalanche of extra matches the timer continues to run until the matching is done, making you lose valuable time when trying to complete the upper right sequence. The second problem is that sometimes during the matching avalanche the game will not necessarily give you the next correct match if it happens. Not sure why this happens, but it does. Luckily for those that play the PC version of the game there are mods out there that can stop the timer while matches are happening and there is even a mod that you will need only one color match in order to proceed. The latter one is interesting, because you will run into Medium and Difficult jumpgates that you need more matches and have less time to complete them. Fact is you will probably be tearing out your hair trying to finish them. The jumpgates are a huge roadblock for you and the other problem is that, at random, jumpgates will go offline and lock up again, necessitating you to do another mini-game in order to open it again.

With that out of the way we can talk about the battle situations. You will be attacked as you go through hostile territory and as you complete your missions. The game keeps track of your standing with the different factions in the game which is easily seen via the Mission Log button on the universe map. While you are completing your missions you will come upon some that will give you Psi powers that allow you to escape from the different sizes of ships. Granted, using this ability costs you Purple gems you’ve amassed, but sometimes you can find yourself greatly outclassed and have little to no chance of winning a battle with a ship one or more classes above yours. The gem colors this time around are: red, blue, green, yellow, purple and white. Red is usually required for special attack abilities, blue increases your shields, green is usually required for special abilities related to your ship, yellow affects the board, purple is used for Psi powers and white is used to increase your experience which allows you to level up and increase your four character sections: Gunnery, Engineer, Science and Pilot.

Much like the original game, there is a lot of strategy involved trying to take out your opponent’s shield and physical hull while also trying to stop them from doing the same to you. Your attacks are spread out between using the mines on the board that have hit point numbers attached to them as well as using special ship abilities that you craft or buy along the way. Shields are always important since they continue to recharge as long as you can get a blue match. This game is just as addictive as the last one even though it now has a sci-fi theme versus the fantasy theme of the first one.

There is a problem I’d like to close out with. The PC version multiplayer aspect is a joke. Instead of giving us a lobby where everyone can connect, you have to either start a game yourself and give someone your IP address or you have to know someone else’s IP address. That’s right, you have to work out a game with a friend before you can actually play online. I’m not sure how the DS version works and I’ve heard there is a lot of slowdown in it, but it may be the better version that is out now for multiplayer. However the minus is that you can’t do any modifications on it for the jumpgate problems…d’oh! It may end up that the upcoming XBLA version is the best, although once again you will be faced with the jumpgate annoyance, but at least multiplayer will probably be competent.

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is an addicting and good game with a few problems that keep it from being fantastic. The base gameplay with the added complexity of zero gravity versus the first Puzzle Quest makes this game even more interesting than the original. The jumpgates, although an ingenious idea, can get rather annoying once you get into Medium or Difficult puzzles. However, with perseverance (or a mod) you should be able to continue beyond them. Once they lock up again though you may reach your limit. Lastly, the computer AI continues to be a sore suspect. The developer has come out saying that the computer does not have any advantage, but many people are already seeing an extremely lucky computer in battles. The argument will go on, but that still doesn’t make this game a bad pickup at $19.99 on the PC or $29.99 on the DS.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, "Galactrix is a great followup to the original Puzzle Quest. The jumpgate annoyance and largely absent multiplayer on PC keep this game on the teetering edge of being scored lower, but the overall addiction and immersion of the game will keep you coming back for many hours."

- Review this title yourself over at Play It Review It, part of the CoG Network

*Note - Review based upon PC version of the game

[jpublic]

There's a couple points I feel you missed:

1) Game performance. I and others have noticed odd hiccups in the game, for no adequately explained reason. The game just hands for a couple seconds, and then continues as if nothing happened. Also, right before some of the effect (example, clicking on a planet) there'll be a slight pause. Annoying.

2) I disbelieve the claim the game doesn't cheat, just as much as I did in CotW.

3) Driver sensitivity - this game is *ludicrously* sensitive to driver revisions, considering how limited its actual requirements are. I had to update my nVidia from 178.x to 182.x to get it to run on a Vista 64 machine. People with ATI cards had similar issues.

[NoName]

I'm starting to regret not getting this on the PC. If I knew the PC version could have Mods I would have gone with that.

The DS version has a multitude of slowdowns, long load times, and an inability to register menu clicks that was not present in the PC demo.

Loren, I'd be curious for you to play the DS version and see if it has the same score as the PC version or not.

[JayVe]

Originally Posted by NoName

I'm starting to regret not getting this on the PC. If I knew the PC version could have Mods I would have gone with that.

The DS version has a multitude of slowdowns, long load times, and an inability to register menu clicks that was not present in the PC demo.

I've been playing the DS version, and love it. Haven't played the PC version to compare. I adore being able to control the direction the gems 'fall' and think it finally adds a bit or real strategy to the 'match 3' genre.

[NoName]

Originally Posted by JayVe

I've been playing the DS version, and love it. Haven't played the PC version to compare. I adore being able to control the direction the gems 'fall' and think it finally adds a bit or real strategy to the 'match 3' genre.

Haha, maybe if I hadn't played the PC demo first I'd be less annoyed (though I would still be annoyed at the darn menus). I'm still playing it almost every night though...

[LongStepMantis]

To anyone who has or plans on getting the PC version: Go here (PQ and PQ:G mods)

Download the mod that makes the timer stop during hack attempts when you can't interact with the board, ie during avalanches. (They're timed, but the timer will continue counting down while random gems fall into the screen and make matches. Trust me, you will fail occasionally and/or get really irritated when you lose 25 seconds of time while you can't even interact with the board.)

And unless you really love hacking, I'd also recommend the mod that makes leapgates not close again. Because, yes, those gates you have to hack that are everywhere will close again, requiring you to hack them over again. Repeat.

The fanbase was lightning quick with mods to fix some of the problems the game has. I think they even have a colorblind mod.

Edit: Make sure if you do use any of them to follow the directions about unzipping and renaming the assets.zip archive.

[agentgray]

I posted this elsewhere, but I'll copy/paste it here:

Infinite Interactive Shame on You

In regards to Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, shame on you for taking almost two years to develop a game…

• that does not solve the early game/end game overpowering problems.
• for still using AI-favored bonus drops (I counted over four gameplay sessions and averaged it. I figured it at ~70% in the AI’s favor).
• for not allowing said bonus drops to work in the hacked gate successions.
• for having the ship follow the mouse (moving back to the gate after hacking is annoying).
• for with all the mentioned problems being the only game ever that frustrates me immensely but compels me to keep playing. (I don’t normally play games that frustrate me)

Oh, and the DS version is a leap back in presentation and control. The PC version seems to have gotten the love this time around.

After another six hours of play I followed up with this:

UPDATE: I am totally done with this game. It has got some SERIOUS random balance issues. I know some people are enjoying it, and that’s great for them, but I feel like I paid $50 for a pile of frustration. There are just too many other games out there now I’d like to play and have fun while playing. I cannot unload on my Steam copy, but it looks as if I’m getting rid of the DS version.

[jpublic]

My problem with the mod to stop the timer in hacking attempts during cascades is that it makes hacks so ludicrously easy it's unbelieveable. I totally understand now why the left the timer going. I can do the hardest hacks without running out of time at all now.

[H.Bogard]

Ugh. I guess not enough people bitched about the IP-for-online-play thing the first time around for them to realize how big a bunch of douchebags they are for making such an atrocious multiplayer implementation.

Fuckers.

[BlackPete]

I made another thread comparing the DS vs. the XBLA versions (which isn't available yet, but since it's essentially the same as the PC version, I figured why not...)

Bottom line -- I hate the analog stick when trying to swap pieces in six different directions during timed hacking sessions. Otherwise it's fine.

Like I said in the other thread, I'm absolutely floored that the DS version shipped with so many interface bugs -- especially since those are the easiest bugs to deal with.

[LongStepMantis]

The consensus from their official forums is DO NOT buy the DS version. It's evidently really messed up. As many of you have pointed out.

I'd recommend only the PC version, as it's cheaper and the community is already hard at work on mods to fix a lot of known issues. Like the ones I posted earlier.

[Talanvor]

Wow. I absolutely loved Puzzle Quest and thought Galactrix would be a definite purchase for me. From all of the problems though I'm wondering how they're going to handle an XBLA implementation.

I hated having to wade through the random spawns to go from point A to B in Puzzle Quest, and Galactrix added these jumpgate hacks too? Yeesh.

[Kielaran]

Good to see you back Loren (You did stop doing reviews for a while, right? Or maybe I was just oblivious to them recently )

Thanks for the review. I wasn't sure if I was interested in the game before, but even with all the problems, it sounds interesting. I will probably get it on XBLA when it comes out.

[LongStepMantis]

Originally Posted by jpublic

My problem with the mod to stop the timer in hacking attempts during cascades is that it makes hacks so ludicrously easy it's unbelieveable. I totally understand now why the left the timer going. I can do the hardest hacks without running out of time at all now.

Unfortunately, yes. But after having to redo multiple gates because I'd get a 20-second long cascade of shit I didn't need and run out of time...I decided I'd rather have easy. The game just has too many gates to hack. My greatest joy will be opening all of them, and then never having to do one again.

...Which makes me question their decision to make so damn many of them.

Also, if anyone is having weird issues with it lagging out for long stretches of time in puzzles/combat, there is a way to fix it for the PC version.

[Johan]

Times like this make me love the PC as a platform, where people can repair what developers/publishers don't in games that could otherwise be quite fun.

What a shame, too. I absolutely LOVED PQ on XBLA. I'm glad I'm waiting on this title. I'll see how the PC version shakes out with more work from the communities out there.

[jpublic]

Originally Posted by LongStepMantis

Also, if anyone is having weird issues with it lagging out for long stretches of time in puzzles/combat, there is a way to fix it for the PC version.

HOW? Don't leave me hanging, man!

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Kielaran

Good to see you back Loren (You did stop doing reviews for a while, right? Or maybe I was just oblivious to them recently )

Thanks for the review. I wasn't sure if I was interested in the game before, but even with all the problems, it sounds interesting. I will probably get it on XBLA when it comes out.

Yeah, I took a bit of a break after early November. Hopefully this will start me doing more reviews, but with the economy the way it is I had to drop Gamefly which was my primary outlet for reviews.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by jpublic

There's a couple points I feel you missed:

1) Game performance.

2) I disbelieve the claim the game doesn't cheat, just as much as I did in CotW.

3) Driver sensitivity

1. Yes, there are hiccups. I haven't looked at the supposed fix talked about later on as of yet, but my guess has been it is related to sound in the game. I've noticed when the track changes that things hang up for a short spurt. I don't think this affects the planet thing though, who knows.

2. It will be debated endlessly. I tend to agree with you, but I pointed out in the review that the developer has said it doesn't cheat.

3. I was having lockup problems, but I figured out it was my video card's fan dying out, so I put in an old video card and it is working well again. I have read on the developer's forum that many people are having problems through Vista and AMD processors (not that you have an AMD processor, but the people who have posted their rigs have all been AMD so far).

[LongStepMantis]

Originally Posted by jpublic

HOW? Don't leave me hanging, man!

You will probably want to make a copy/backup of the assets.zip file.

After that, explore into assets.zip for the Assets folder, then locate the Models folder inside. Inside should be a string of image files named Skybox. These are the images for the animated planet in the background. Delete everything inside the folder.

You will lose the animated planet background for a solid blue one, but it will stop the weird random slowdowns.

Hope that helps.

[AgtFox]

I will say that ever since I went to the old graphics card I haven't seen any sort of slowdown while playing. It could be the finicky driver issue on both sides (ATI and nVidia). I'll continue to play and see if I notice the slowdown.

I also tried that trick Mantis has above and I didn't notice anything different (this was on the card where the fan no longer works). To be honest, looking at a blue background is just not as nice.