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For all its charms, Puzzle Quest is not a game that ends well. Once you've completed every mindless fetch mission and julienned the anticlimactic final boss, you're dropped back into the worldmap with hardly any ceremony save some brief epilogue text. The landscape appears just as you left it, unaffected by your victory or valor.

The New Gamer laments in its review, "I keep hoping that, finally, my character will have some complete and utter impact on the lands, that all those I've interacted in will pronounce the lands free of evil, free of conflict and that they can finally live their lives in peace." But your deeds are quickly forgotten by the townspeople you've saved, and there's little to indicate that you've had an impact on the kingdom of Etheria. In short, it never feels like the Challenge of the Warlords has actually been completed.

Though this lack of finality isn't exclusive to Puzzle Quest, we really expected more from an otherwise fantastic game. Hopefully, Infinite Interactive will take pains to address the issue before putting out its next puzzle/RPG hybrid, Galactrix. Until then, we'll be haunting Etheria's dusty roads, matching gems against any soul that stumbles across our path, sighing no matter what the outcome.

If Final Fantasy can reach the double digits, why can't an RPG puzzler also have sequels? In a recent interview with the creators of Puzzle Quest, IGN learned that not only were the creators surprised by how quickly the title has sold, but that they are also working on a sequel. Infinite Interactive's CEO Steve Fawkner said: "We have enjoyed creating (and playing) Puzzle Quest so much that I think we wanted to start on a sequel the day the game was released. The right thing to do, though, is to spend some time gathering ideas, discussing new features, and listening to our customers before we dive right in and start work on a sequel. But I can almost guarantee that, barring the most unfortunate Act of God, you haven't seen the last Puzzle/RPG hybrid to come out of Infinite Interactive."

If that still doesn't convince you that a sequel is in the works, Puzzle Quest's publisher D3 also chimed in about a sequel possibility: "Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is considered one of D3's key franchises. Absolutely do not count out the possibility of an amazing sequel to this remarkable game."

So what changes would you like to see in this inevitable sequel?

Many fans are calling Puzzle Quest one of the best puzzle games to come out in years. The game, which combines RPG and puzzle elements (seriously!), adds a much desired amount of depth to the typically simple Bejeweled gameplay. Watch the latest episode of Not the 1UP Show to see the Ziff Davis editors explain what makes the game so special.

Michael Fahey from Kotaku has lost his mind. In a consumerist rage, he went out and bought both the DS and PSP versions of Puzzle Quest. Luckily, his insanity proves to have a use, since he's able to compare the two versions. Which system came out of the bloody cage match a winner? Lucky for PSP owners, Puzzle Quest is best on Sony's portable. Better graphics, better sound and better AI make the PSP version the clear choice to buy if you have both systems. On the downside, they mention that the PSP Puzzle Quest has load times, but anyone who plays PSP (or any disc based system) should be used to that by now.

[Thanks Colin]