Because of its name, I’ve seen people mistake Puzzle & Dragons for a match-three game in the style of Candy Crush, but that’s not totally accurate. It’s an RPG with puzzle-based battle, and the original mobile version is known for its depth of gameplay and strategy. Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros Edition for 3DS bundles two games in one, and Z at first appears to be the definitive upgrade veterans are looking for — but that is also inaccurate. The Mario Edition is actually the star, and it shines where Z falls flat.
The start screen says that Mario Edition is better for beginners, and it is indeed faithful to the original P&D gameplay. You start with a few allies, build a team, and fight your way through dungeons, clearing elemental orbs in the puzzle portion to attack. It differs from a typical match-three in that you can freely move one orb around the puzzle area for a limited amount of time, which makes the puzzles more involved and real-time than they seem at first glance. It’s a deep, complex system, and the Mario version turned out to be decently challenging. Bosses are hard to beat, and I had to be really engaged with what I was doing. It’s not something you can play mindlessly.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...
The start screen says that Mario Edition is better for beginners, and it is indeed faithful to the original P&D gameplay. You start with a few allies, build a team, and fight your way through dungeons, clearing elemental orbs in the puzzle portion to attack. It differs from a typical match-three in that you can freely move one orb around the puzzle area for a limited amount of time, which makes the puzzles more involved and real-time than they seem at first glance. It’s a deep, complex system, and the Mario version turned out to be decently challenging. Bosses are hard to beat, and I had to be really engaged with what I was doing. It’s not something you can play mindlessly.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...