Puzzle Quest 3

Puzzle Quest 3 is an excellent addition to the match-3 puzzle combat adventure genre. The game is easy to pick up and plays smoothly. With an intriguing story and amazing cast of characters, it's sure to be a hit for people across the board.

The hybrid nature of Puzzle Quest 3 is still intact in its core gameplay: matching colors, fighting creatures and managing characters and builds is still enjoyable, but the free-to-play structure feels more like a regression than an evolution.

I don't want to seem entirely negative on Puzzle Quest 3, as what is included in the game is enjoyable. I did have fun matching wits with the game's match-3 system, and there were moments where I snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat that thrilled me. However, when you hold it up to its predecessors, this game doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's the same Puzzle Quest we've seen before, only now there are limits to certain modes, microtransactions, and a story that's barely there.. The stripping away of things like explorable towns and non-linear world maps skew the puzzle/RPG balance hard toward the "puzzle" part, making it feel less like a RPG that uses puzzles as its battle system and more like a typical match-3 game with RPG elements added on as an afterthought. I had hoped for a grand quest, but what I got only left me puzzled.