Puzzle Quest meets Castlevania anyone? Although Konami claims that the main inspiration for Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night is an older Japanese game series called Puzzle-Dama, I can’t help but think that Puzzle Quest was also a big influence as it essentially takes the RPG and story elements of Castlevania and combines them with a Match 3 puzzle game. Konami have pushed the Castlevania series in some strange directions as of late (most notably with a fighting game on the Wii a couple of years back), and this is perhaps the most unexpected direction yet. What’s even more unexpected, however, is just how enjoyable the game actually is.
The basic idea is that you play as Alucard and navigate your way through Dracula’s castle, room by room by tapping on a 2-D map. At each stop, you may find an item, a Safe Room (kind of like a save point), or you may have to face an enemy in combat using falling gem gameplay similar to Columns. What makes the game a little different is the fact that you don’t win simply by outlasting your opponent. You must reduce your enemy’s HP by using a combination of block maneuvering, spells and stats on a round by round basis. I still don’t know if I fully grasp all the rules but it is easy to pick up and play, gradually requiring deeper strategies the longer you spend with it.
Castlevania Puzzle recycles artwork and music directly from Symphony of the Night, which gives it an authentic feel but may disappoint some fans who were hoping for something completely new. My only real issue with the game thus far is the fact that the touch controls are occasionally a bit finicky, particularly when the blocks start piling up and the action gets intense. Either way, I’d have to declare this odd attempt at creating an addictive puzzle game for the iPhone a resounding success, and well worth picking up from the App Store (it was on sale earlier this week but is currently priced at $4.99). No word on whether or not this will eventually make its way to Xbox Live or PSN, but the precision of a controller D-pad would definitely be a huge benefit.
