Othello has been left in obscurity for far too long, and Capcom and Griptonite have done a great job creating a "next gen" version of the rule set to draw new folks in. From the franchise side, the game doesn't shed a lot of light on the breadth and scope of the sizable Neopets universe, but it works well enough as a subtle "come hither" to check out Neopets.com and see all the other functionality and experiences available for Neopets fans.
From the adventure/RPG angle, though, this is no Puzzle Quest: the story's short and simple, and gaining experience points is really a glorified timer for unlocking additional slots to equip Petpets. Nevertheless, it's the heart of classic-but-tweaked Othello gameplay that makes this a title worth picking up again and again.
Proving that it sometimes pays to blatantly rip off other peoples' ideas, Neopets were originally unleashed upon the world via the internet in 1999, four years after the birth of Pokemon. Like Nintendo's pocket monster franchise, Neopets are virtual pets which can be tamed, trained, and interacted with in a variety of ways, albeit through Neopets.com rather than a highly popular Gameboy game.
GameVortex writes: "Neopets Puzzle Adventure is a fun game to play. There are disadvantages to the Wii version, most notably being the small text size. But there are also some really good advantages as well; the story is a lot longer and there are more in-depth characters. I recommend that you get them both. Besides, it gives you more virtual prizes that way".
Back in 2007, Wii owners were served a shoddy port of a good game in Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. Once again, Wii owners are served up a broken version of an Infinite Interactive title. The Wii version of Neopets Puzzle Adventure is technically baffling, with broken framerates, aggravating hiccups, and other programming problems that really damage the experience. Neopets fanatics pining for a fix will do better to look to the superior (and cheaper) DS version rather than this rushed Wii project.
