Puzzle Quest Demo
Puzzle Quest Demo is a very addicting game. I love the fact that the game incorporates bejeweled as a way to level up. It feels like you're playing multiple games, because there is the story material, then there are bejeweled puzzles. The game has alot of dynamics and it is hard for the players to get bored of it. I am a huge fan of japanese animations and comics, and therefore I like the graphics alot in this game. The heroes are all typical japanese characters. One negative thing about the game is that I feel extremely 'alone' when I'm playing the game. If it is possible, maybe a multiplayer aspect can be added into the game. Perhaps, there can be group quests, or bejeweled puzzles that require more than one person to solve? The character design is plain in this game, but for some reason, I see that as a positive feature. You do not get the chance to move your character around in this game, and also due to the single-player aspect of the game (no interaction with other players), it would be a waste of time if the game lets you perform really detail character customization when no-one, including yourself, will look at the characters at all. The main purpose of this game is the puzzle, not really the appearances of the heroes.
The theme and mechanics go along well, but as other people have already said, the theme does not really have to be relating to the medieval era. The theme can be changed to any other reasonable themes, such as ancient characters, modern characters, futuristic characters, and that will still fit the mechanics just fine. I believe the names and the characters aren't really the main reasons why people would consider playing this game. The mechanics of the game is the most important element and therefore should not be changed because it is the mechanics that make the game what it is. However, maybe the designer can think about changing the amount of text in the game. after playing for about 15 minutes, I started skipping all the text so that I can get to the bejeweled part as soon as I can. Perhaps a more effective way of conveying the story has to be implemented to even further improve the game.