If you have a mate who plays FIFA, you’ll never see him playing Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords. Combining the exciting world of puzzles with the ejaculatory brilliance of RPGs, this is definitely antimainstream gaming.

This is something we’re happy with. Why, after all, would you pander to the mainstream just to suit those tracksuitwearing muggers who hang around on the underpass? Challenge Of The Warlords does something very different in an accomplished way, and we commend that; we’re just making the point that this is specific to a certain audience.

While the gameplay dynamics are easy to get to grips with, the sheer slog of it all is a little tough to take. By matching rows of items on the board, it has an effect on the way you handle your quest, adding to your statistics, money, doing damage – everything. Everything revolves around the board, which induces a sense of dread: this is all there is.

Still, Puzzle Quest does improve as you are drawn into it. The battle system is a bit of drag at first, sure, but then these kinds of games encompass a rewarding experience for those who crawl along with it. Maybe you’d just like a change from generic racers on the PSP? We did, and Puzzle Quest is a reassuringly unique experience for the few, rather than the many.

Samuel Roberts