Reviewed by JoJo, prohibit reproduce without permission.

The title Marvel Puzzle Quest was enough to attract a large group of Marvel fans, but it did prove not to disappoint them. While playing as more than 230 of your favorite superhero characters and villains like the X-Men, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy is its notable highlight, it's the surrounding content and balance that makes it so surprising. The idea of an addictive triple-play game mixed with a variety of Marvel heroes and villains just sounds great, and it's executed well! What makes Marvel Puzzle Quest truly unique compared to puzzle games of the past is the team of three characters you assemble. With dozens of characters to choose from, each with their unique abilities, all it really comes down to is fine-tuning a team that best suits the one you want to play with.

You'll start with a variety of characters to choose from, with new ones being added as you progress through the story. The variety of abilities at your disposal is amazing, and the tactics you can employ are equally impressive. In battle, you and your opponent take turns matching colored gems, which can be used as your means of attack, but also to build up resources for special attacks. Each character has a unique special attack, Storm has a powerful skill, Hawkeye can clear the board, and Iron Man does high damage and hits hard, giving you some room to strategize who to engage in battle and which gems should be prioritized. These considerations also make each character, and their combinations, more interesting. The options and combinations of tactics are almost endless, and Marvel Puzzle Quest's gameplay is by far the most robust I've seen in a puzzle game.

Marvel Puzzle Quest's strategic layer is just as intricately interconnected as its combat. There are two main modes, story and an asynchronous multiplayer. The story is a bare-bones affair, about a powerful new substance called Iso-8 and Norman Osborn's attempts to supplant S.H.I.E.L.D, while there are also a cycling group of multiplayer tournaments to join. These are interconnected like everything else in Marvel Puzzle Quest: you play some story missions to unlock the characters' skills, and then play some multiplayer battles to earn game coins to gain levels for them. This combination of different game modes, upgrade methods and forms of currency all make Marvel Puzzle Quest the perfect balance.

It ditches all the free-to-play aspects of mobile games and lets you unlock and upgrade the full roster of heroes and villains throughout the game's long story. You don't have to spend money to unlock heroes; instead, you gain experience by using characters in battle and unlocking new ones as you progress through the story. If you spend your currency carefully, you can play completely for free, although there may be a bit of repetitive grinding when redoing plot missions. Spending money may be unnecessary, but its time advantage is obvious. You know, it's like a real video game!

Everything about Marvel Puzzle Quest is so compelling that even non-Marvel fans will love it! Battling other players, advancing the plot, and managing character health and progression all happen at the same time, and all mean that there are ongoing challenges and goals to work towards. This really is a game that will keep players around for a long time, and I recommend it to everyone who likes match-three games or Marvel!