Puzzle Quest sequel details

When D3Publisher revealed that a Puzzle Quest follow-up would be released in 2008, we guessed that it might be something we'd already heard about - and we were right, although it wasn't Deathbringer, as we suspected, but Galactrix.

Now known as Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, and due out on PC, Xbox Live Arcade and DS this year, and according to GameSpot it's like the original PQ except it's gone all far-future science-fiction and the puzzle gameplay is set on a hexagonal grid with shifting gravity.

The idea is still that you create lines of three tiles of the same colour to bank whatever resource they represent, but that the resulting gap is not always filled from the same direction. If you're in orbit around a planet as you fight, for example, things may slide in from the bottom left rather than above. Other times, there's no gravity at all.

D3 also reveals that the on-screen tiles now represent things like engines, weapons and your ship computer, and that certain tiles allow you to recharge your shields, collect intelligence and, of course, attack, although attack tiles now have a corresponding attack value on them.

We will also get to do more between battles, with a diplomacy system, shipbuilding and trade mentioned.

All of which sounds promising. Given how much we and everyone else loved Puzzle Quest, the full game can't come soon enough.