Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

As a citizen of the kingdom of Bartonia, it's your job to discover why the Undead have begun swarming all over the world of Etheria. In this RPG hybrid, you'll be following the story of your character as they rid Etheria of the Undead scourge and save Bartonia, complete sidequests for extra money, experience, items and companions, craft your own weapons and armor, capture monsters for use as mounts or to learn their spells, and even lay siege to neighboring kingdoms in order to add them to your own empire. However, Puzzle Quest has a twist.

When fighting an enemy (which can range from zombies to orcs and even castle strongholds, each with their own special spells and abilities), you both take turns using the same board. The goal is to reduce your opponent's hitpoints to zero, which can be done directly by linking up skulls in rows of three or more, or by using spells that require mana.

The real strategy behind the game comes into play when you factor in elemental mastery (gaining extra mana when linking runes for a specific element), equipment (which can prevent damage, drain mana and more), spells (which can poison, drain mana, stun and so on) and linking up groups of four or more. The reason groups of four are important is that every time a row of four-of-a-kind is created, you get an extra turn.

The game also features direct action mode for honing skills against various opponents independent from the story mode, as well as wireless multi-card play for two players to square off using their own characters from the campaign mode.