Despite Greg’s proclamation that there would be no Free Game Friday, here I am with a Free Game Friday.

Today we have the glory and wonder that is the Puzzle Quest: Galactrix demo.  I remember when the demo for Puzzle Quest first hit.  I found it odd that they spent all of this time making a kick ass PC demo for a game that wasn’t going to be on the PC.  It didn’t make any sense.  Then I started playing it and I lost all sense of space and time as my life was sucked into the glorious wormhole that was Puzzle Quest. I played that dang demo all the time to the point where my wife had learned to hate the game well before it came out for the DS.

The Galactrix demo is about a thousand times prettier than the Puzzle Quest demo, which unfortunately means that my meager laptop can’t keep up with it.  Greg is also reporting problems running the demo however that shouldn’t dissuade you from checking it out.  The game looks gorgeous, and my only problem is that, on my machine, the gameplay is very, very slow.  Luckily the game is turn based, so the speed isnt a problem.

The basic mechanics of Puzzle Quest are here: you match colored tiles up to remove them from the board. As a new twist, due the hexagonal nature of the tiles, you have more directions to move the tiles, and rather than having the tiles fall down from the top, as in traditional tile matching games, the tiles come in from the same direction as your tile move.  It’s an interesting idea, and fits the space oeuvre what with the lack of gravity and all.

Puzzle Quest allowed you to match blue, red, green and yellow tiles to power up your spells a mechanic that has been streamlined to just red, green and yellow for Galactrix.  The blue tiles are matched to regain shields, which adds a new strategic element to the play.  Should I match those red tiles to power up my mega laser or try to give my shields some help?  In Puzzle Quest, your ability to be defensive was determined by the spells you had selected prior to going into battle, so it’s nice to see the ability to defend yourself all the time in Galactrix.  I’m not sure if having only three gem colors to fuel weapons means fewer weapons, or just more complicated weapon requirements, but come February, we’ll all be able to see for ourselves.

All in all, I’m happy with the demo, even if the novelty of the mash-up style of gameplay has worn off.  I do wish my laptop could do a better job handling the demo though as I don’t have much patience with it which means I’ll spend far less time playing Galactrix between now and 2/24 than I would have thought.  At any rate, take a look at the demo and get those fires of anticipation good and stoked.

Download and play the Puzzle Quest: Galactrix demo.