The newest game from Joju Games, Puzzle Detective is a pretty innovative twist on the classic Match-3 game. Sure, I know, another match-3. I’m sick of them too, but hang with us a little longer. It’s not what you think. To be honest, much as I never want to see another Bejeweled-style match-3 game again in my life, this one actually kept me pretty amused.

The key to the innovation is that the theme of the game is a detective story, and as you are flipping tiles by matching tokens, you are uncovering clues. These clues are all theme-based, so they may include postcards of Malibu, dim sum recipe bums, or other signifiying characteristics. After a few levels, the player can then use these clues to determine the key traits from a cast of characters, and choose the right criminal and arrest them. It’s a pretty simple twist, but it does two things: A) It gives you a neat short term goal while flipping tiles to look for the clues buried underneath, much like a game of minesweeper, and B) it gives the whole game a meaning. Suprising as it may sound; this jaded game reviewer actually found himself at the end of the hour demo still happily playing and wondering what city would be next in the world travels of the intrepid detective. That’s always a good sign.

To be honest, that’s about all there is to the game. There are the special tokens you have come to expect, some fun little storylines, and graphics and sound that are not amazing, but good enough to not distract you from the core gameplay. This game isn’t going to win any awards or make any developers rich, but it is a pleasant and original diversion for fans of match-3 games. We suggest giving it a go and seeing what you think.

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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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