First off, a Bejeweled ‘Match 3’ role-playing game shouldn’t work. The most casual and the least casual ends of the gaming spectrum shouldn’t be brought together and tied in a strange knot like this. However, anyone who played the Nintendo DS version of Puzzle Quest will know that, against reason, it does work - and that this is a finely-balanced and incredibly compulsive re-invention of the basic Bejeweled recipe that should rightfully have slipped into derided cliche.

Basically, you and an opponent take turns on a board populated by four colours of mana, skulls, coins and stars. Swap two adjacent squares to match colours, and you’ll charge your mana reserves. Skulls directly damage your opponent. Coins add to your wealth, and stars give you an XP boost. Spells can be cast at different costs to each of your four elemental mana banks, and the huge range of spells can all be deployed to beneficial effect (and sometimes backfire) depending on the state of the board. On top of competitive play, you can capture enemies, learn their spells, train mounts and forge items from runes - each of which takes you on a variation of the main game’s theme.

Full story: gamesradar.com