If you haven’t heard of the downloadable mobile game Puzzle & Dragons then don’t worry, you’re not the only person. But you will probably hear about it eventually. Why? Because the game is a sensation on mobile platforms.
It is regularly competing for the title of most revenue ever generated by a mobile game and some reports put Puzzle & Dragons’ revenue figures in the billions.
How to Download Puzzle & Dragons
You can download the game either from Google Play Store or from Apple App Store. The choice is yours. To commence your download click on the link provided at the end of the review.
The Game Review
Available for iOS and Android platforms, Puzzle & Dragons is also huge on the Amazon Kindle tablet as well. The game is so popular in East Asia that a television series of the same name was developed and aired.
This title combines role-playing game elements with puzzle matching game mechanics for a title that is reminiscent of Puzzle Quest but on steroids.
You might be wondering what exactly makes players spend so much money on the game, and the answer is quite simple: At its heart, Puzzle & Dragons’ revenue machine is powered by a Pokemon-esque collecting mechanic.
The dragons in the title are one of many creatures that you can collect in the game with others including other mythological creatures and even deities from world religions. Improving these creatures so that they are more effective in clearing puzzles is a huge draw for the game and is what players will spend most of their time on outside of the puzzle mechanic.
In terms of the game’s interface, it is a face-forward role-playing game in the style of Enix’s classic Dragon Quest games from the NES and SNES systems. You encounter enemies head-on and the puzzle board used for combat appears beneath this.
Puzzle & Dragons: the Graphics
Graphically speaking, the game is nothing spectacular and the graphics are appropriately bright but also somewhat flat. There is a great amount of detail when it comes to the monsters, but the game pieces themselves look like clip art repurposed for a mobile app. As a free-to-play game, the value proposition in this title is largely what the player makes it. Still, the lack of attention to detail in presentation for a game so profitable is disappointing.
The Sound
Sound and music are also similarly phoned in with almost little to nothing special to say about them. They aren’t offensive and this, in itself, is enough of a compliment.
Two of the main features that keeps Puzzle & Dragons interesting are the dungeons and the tie-in events. As a major mobile gaming property, this one has a lot of promotional tie-ins with everyone from DC Comics to other video game properties. This and the ranked dungeons encourage repeat and habitual play.
