Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

"It works like this: when you go into battle, you and your enemy take turns to try and make lines of three or more gems, coins, stars or skulls by selecting and swapping adjacent tiles. These then disappear in time-honoured fashion so that the gems, coins, stars or skulls above them can slide down to fill the gaps."

Big, crisp graphics and online multiplayer markedly improve Puzzle Quest's oddly hypnotic blend of RPG and puzzle-game conventions.

Puzzle Quest was a pleasant surprise when it was released on handhelds earlier this year, and this XBLA version gets me excited all over again. The unlikely marriage of puzzle gameplay with RPG mechanics makes for one of the most addictive experiences available on Microsoft's downloadable service. The minor glitches that were apparent in the DS version are nowhere to be found here. It's also a bargain on XBLA, priced at half the amount of the portable versions. If you haven't played Puzzle Quest, yet, this is a definite download. And if you have it's likely you'll fall in love with its seemingly endless set of quests to be accomplished, different classes to try, and new spells to master all over again. Throw in achievements, higher resolution graphics, and online multiplayer -- Puzzle Quest is a marriage that will last.