Earlier this week, the NYC division of team 61FPS were treated with some hands-on time with some of Capcom's hottest upcoming titles, and there was something for everyone. Pete kicked all of our asses in Street Fighter IV, John blissed out in mid-air with Bionic Commando, and me? Well, I finally got in a few rounds of my most anticipated puzzler since Picross DS, Neopets Puzzle Adventure. Yes, that's right, I practically sleepwalked through Resident Evil 5 but was enthusiastic about playing Neopets Puzzle Adventure, and what might possibly shock you even more is that I loved it.
In case you've forgotten, Neopets Puzzle Adventure is a great big orgy of gaming goodness. It's being developed by the same team that did the sleeper mega-hit Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, published by Capcom in cooporation with Nickelodeon, and of course carries the surprisingly still popular Neopets license, one that only a few years ago was nearly as popular in North America as the unstoppable maelstrom that is Pokémon. The less said about my time playing Neopets from 2000-2002, the better, but this new (as the title accurately suggests) puzzle adventure is primed to bring Neopets back to the public's warm open hearts, and I couldn't be happier.
Just like the wildly addictive Puzzle Quest, Neopets Puzzle Adventure's story mode sets you in a colorful renaissance fantasy land with a large map of villages to visit, each with their own citizens, shops, and quests. Battles are portrayed in the form of a board game, only this time instead of slaying monsters and the undead by playing bejeweled, you are besting rival creatures by playing Reversi/Othello. To keep the action exciting, there are combo moves and a variety of special tiles for obstacles, bonus points or actions. Whereas Puzzle Quest's main game-changing mechanic was using collected mana to cast spells, Neopets Puzzle Adventure, much like its namesake, seems to focus more on the acessories, toys and pets your Neopet collects. For example, around the world map you are able to collect smaller pets for your Neopet to care for. These Petpets come into use in battle like spells did, with one I saw allowing you to swap any opponent's game piece you want for your own without costing a turn. The other noteworthy difference in Neopets Puzzle Adventure is that, in true Neopets fashion, you have a bit more control over your pet's presentation. Whereas Puzzle Quest only gave you a few classes (knight, mage, et cetera) and a couple of pre-established characters in each, this time you can choose the breed of your Neopet, its color, gender, give it a name and, of course, load it up with fashionable accessories.
With three flavorful SKUs and Nickelodeon's marketing behind it, Neopets Puzzle Adventure is reaching out to the casual gaming crowd in a manner I can only describe as commendable. The version being shown off most prominently was the Wii build and, unfortunately, it suffered from the very problem I was worried about. IR sensors are not consistantly accurate and the PR rep demoing the gameplay screwed herself over when a piece was placed on the tile next to the one she intended. When we then opted for a head-to-head battle on a pair of DSes, the game was fluid to the point of magical wonderment. It is worth noting that while filling as much as the board as possible with your colored pieces is still an important part of the game, just as important is the number of points you accumulate through special tiles and combo moves as the two are combined to form your final score and determine a winner.
I argued that the DS version will be the market leader, as the biggest target demographic already has DSes for all their pokémons and both puzzle and RPG games are best suited for portable gaming, but my friendly opponent made the fair point that the PC version could be big since that is where people are already playing Neopets (and a vast majorty of casual gamers don't own a gaming console or portable but play on their desktop). Plus, achieving certain tasks in game presents you with passwords to unlock special features on the Neopets website, which is much easier to do if you're playing both on the same computer, I imagine.
All in all, Neopets Puzzle Adventure is a refreshingly deep casual game with family-friendly graphics and hardcore-friendly customization and battling. The game hits Nintendo Wii, DS, and Windows PCs on November 25th for $39.99, $29.99 and $19.99 respectively. I, for one, am down for the DS version on launch day, and my Shoyru will freakin' eat you!
Related:
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Captivating Discontent: Where's the Nintendo Love, Capcom?
Resident Evil 5: Continuing On The Transformation Trail from Horror to Suspense
Design Resurrection: How Capcom Finally Proved It's The Game And Not Graphics That Matter
To Be A Pokémon Master