Blue Dragon: Awaked Shadow is set two years after the original Blue Dragon and a year after the previous DS installment, Blue Dragon Plus. Instead of controlling Shu, the player creates their own character in this game, selecting the look and gender of your avatar before setting off on an adventure to rid the world of a newly-awakened enemy and restore balance.

A customisable character means the player can also change shadows to fit the situation, adding an element of strategy to the game that wasn’t there before.

I have to admit, the original Blue Dragon is one of my least favourite RPG games of this console generation, and the first DS follow-up didn’t impress me much. However, Awakened Shadow is developed by tri-Crescendo so there might still be hope.

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard might not have been the most competent game on the shelves, but the advertising and marketing were certainly top-notch. I’d dare say that many people bought the title on merit of its unique advertising campaign alone. It looks like D3publisher isn’t letting up for the new game either, bringing Matt into the real world with this advertisement for a fake motivational seminar for old game heroes.

The question you need to ask yourself is, “Are your thighs mighty?” Well are they?

D3Publisher’s side-scrolling follow up to the Matt Hazard franchise, fictionally some two decades old, will be coming to PSN and XBLA this winter, according to an official announcement, looking a bit Shadow Complex-ish. It’s a time travelling adventure, with Hazard tasked with saving the 8-bit version of himself as he progress through his previous games, titles like The Adventures of Matt in Hazard Land and Chest of the Pirate Queen.

And Mirror’s Edge apparently!

The satire’s there. Let’s just hope that developer Vicious Cycle can turn Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond’s premise into something fun to play.

We’re not quite sure why the Xbox 360 has become the lonely Japanese otaku voyeur’s console of choice, but D3Publisher’s Dream C Club is only going to further entrench the console as perv-worthy.

D3publisher takes the award-winning combination of roleplaying game and gem-based puzzler and brings it to the iPhone with Puzzle Quest: The Battle of Grulkar.

Rather than release the entire game in one large chunk, D3 and TransGaming instead decided to split the original Puzzle Quest and its expansion, Bane of the Plague Lord, into three more manageable chunks, releasing the first one with a lowered level cap on Apple’s iTunes App Store for the premium price of US$9.99. Does the price match what is essentially one-third of a much larger title, or are players better off playing the versions already released on consoles and dedicated gaming portables?

Loved
The Game Remains The Same: This is still the same Puzzle Quest that I’ve played through a dozen times, with an extra shot of touchscreen support. The combination of jewel-matching puzzles with roleplaying game concepts like spells, experience points, and stats is just as compelling and addictive as it was the first time I got my hands on the Nintendo DS version of the game.

A Nice-Sized Chunk: Despite being only half of the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords game, The Battle of Grulkar still manages to deliver a great deal of gameplay for a relatively modest price. You not only get half of the main quest, which is a good 18 to 20 hours worth of puzzle battles, you can also continue playing once the story ends, leveling up to 25 (the original cap was 50), conquering cities, capturing monsters, and developing new items and spells in preparation for the release of part two.

Hated
Big Fingers Need Not Apply: The main issue with the porting of Puzzle Quest to the iPhone is that the menus and indeed playing the actual game itself can be frustrating with the tiny touch targets presented. While touching worked on the Nintendo DS with a stylus, having to hit impossibly small menu buttons with the tip of your finger, especially with fingers as large as mine, gets old fast. The game seems a bit more forgiving in terms of actually moving gems during battle, but you still have to play pretty close attention to what you are doing in order to avoid screw ups.

A lot have fuss has been made over the price of Puzzle Quest: Grulkar, which gives you half of a $14.99 game for $9.99. At first glance it seems like a bit of a rip off, but when you take into account the fact that TransGaming has included the four additional classes that so far have only appeared in the Xbox 360 downloadable expansion Bane of the Plague Lord, which was included in the recently released PlayStation 3 version. With D3Publisher having confirmed that the next two installments would be at a lower price, it isn’t quite as bad a deal as people had feared.

For those of you who’ve not yet experienced the sublime melding of roleplaying and puzzle genres that Puzzle Quest delivers, Puzzle Quest: The Battle of Grulkar is still one hell of a game, and the perfect title to hide on your strictly-for-business iPhone.

Puzzle Quest: The Battle of Grulkar was developed by TransGaming and published byD3Publisher, released on December 23rd, 2008 for iPhone and iPod Touch. Retails for US$9.99. Played game once to completion. Reviewed version 1.1.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

There’s a couple of viral Onechanbara vids doing the internet rounds, and they’re, well, pretty much what you’d expect: zombies and bikinis.

If the flash demo of D3publisher’s upcoming space-age Puzzle Quest follow-up wasn’t enough for you, head over to Big Download for the full 128mb PC demo of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.

Rather than just place you in the middle of the same fight over and over again, the PC demo for Puzzle Quest: Galactrix contains the game’s single-player story and instant action modes. I story mode you can create a character and take them to level five, but you can’t save your hero and are limited in the number of star systems you can visit. Still, there are star systems to visit! Take that, flash demo!

Download: Puzzle Quest Galactrix Demo [Big Download]

Gamers eager for a taste of the gameplay in D3Publisher’s futuristic take on Puzzle Quest can now do so, with a flash demo that lets you play a round right in your web-browser.

Much like they did with the original Puzzle Quest, D3Publisher has made a browser-based demo for the upcoming sequel to the fantasy original, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. You’ll get to face wits against a computer controlled General Tarn, who obviously has been playing the game a great deal longer than you have. It’s a good way to get yourself used to the new game mechanics in advance of the title’s release next month.

PuzzleQuest Online Demo [Official Site via Evil Avatar]

Doogie Howser! Doogie Howser is playing the bad guy in the game! Go Doogie! Wow, it felt good to let that out. Anyway, press release follows.

WILL ARNETT AND NEIL PATRICK HARRIS LEND VOICE TALENT TO D3PUBLISHER’S UPCOMING SHOOTER EAT LEAD: THE RETURN OF MATT HAZARD

Hazard/Arnett/Harris ‘08 — The Change Gamers Need!

CAMBRIDGE- October 27, 2008 – D3Publisher (D3P) today announced that award-winning Hollywood actors Will Arnett, best known to audiences for his roles on television’s “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development,” and Neil Patrick Harris, currently appearing on television’s “How I Met Your Mother,” will voice the main characters in Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard™. This original third-person shooter with a sense of humour is anticipated for release in Q1 2009 for PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®.

In Eat Lead, Will Arnett will bring to life classic 80’s videogame action hero Matt Hazard. Matt gets his chance to prove once and for all that he is the king of shooters when Wallace “Wally” Wellesley, new owner of mega game publisher Marathon Megasoft, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, gives Matt his comeback role starring in a new next-gen title that pits him against all of his memorable foes from videogames past. In the world of Eat Lead, however, everything stops being a game and becomes reality when players discover through the original storyline brought to life by Arnett’s and Harris’ voiceover that someone is using the new game to bring about Matt’s death once and for all.

“Eat Lead parodies some of the most beloved genres of games and pop culture, so it was important that we find the perfect voice talent to bring both Matt Hazard and Wallace Wellesley to life,” said Pete Andrew, vice president of product development, North America, D3P. “Both Will and Neil are life long videogamers and their experiences playing games combined with their comedic genius and superb voice talent will make Eat Lead a must-have title for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 system.”

# # #

The above woman is holding a back for The Simple Series 10th anniversary. That’s nice of her.