Microsoft 365 Personal

Neopets Puzzle Adventure is a passable game for little tykes who enjoy the land of Neopia, but grown gamers definitely won't be clamouring for this title.
Neopets Puzzle Adventure only delivers half of what it promises in the title. While the puzzle elements show a faint bit of innovation, everything else in the game feels too simple and kid-oriented, even for casual gamers. Oddly enough, Neopets Puzzle Adventure would have been a better game without the story, characters, or sparse RPG elements.
For what it's worth, Neopets Puzzle Adventure actually surprised me. While the story mode is complete tripe, the puzzle action isn't too shabby. From the first moment the game loaded, I was already rolling my eyes at the game's sugar-coated plot. Basically, you customise your own Neopet from a sparse amount of races and color schemes, letting it loose on the world of Neopia to right wrongs and fight evil, which really equates to running errands for every strange creature you meet. All the tasks in the game are done via puzzles, namely a strange-yet-addicting take on "Reversi," which is where the real value of Neopets Puzzle Adventure is hidden.
In the old Reversi, you and an opponent took turns placing colored discs on a board while trying to outmanoeuvre each other. When you trapped your opponent's discs between yours, their colour flipped, giving you the points needed to win. In Neopets Puzzle Adventure, the gameplay changes with the addition of (ugh) "Petpets," little coloured Pokemon-like creatures with special game altering abilities. Strangely, the Petpets' different skills actually breathe new life into the old Reversi concept. Each Petpet has an ability that can make the difference between victory or defeat -- like eliminating multiple pieces and replacing them with your own -- but nothing that outright damages the gameplay. Setting up reversals and combos constantly had me thinking a few steps ahead of each move, and I actually lost a few matches simply by not paying attention.
If you're going to play Neopets Puzzle Adventure, multiplayer is definitely the way to go. When you have a good collection of Petpets in your stable, the flow of one simple game can shift often and rapidly, resulting in tons of unexpected combos and last-second reversals. Other games clearly based on Puzzle Quest and "Memory Match" are offered in the "Instant Action" mode, but none of them have the depth or polish of the Reversi-inspired puzzles. I really wish that all the games had been lumped into the main adventure, especially since the computer presents no real challenge once you've leveled up enough to use more than one Petpet in a battle.
Overall, Neopets Puzzle Adventure is a good game for its target demographic -- children who will use the game's many unlockable codes to access various digital goodies on the Neopets website. The puzzle action delivered more fun than I expected, and the Petpets are a compelling, game-changing element. If you can ignore the lame, lengthy story and ridiculous-looking cast of characters, there's actually a good experience here buried under the Neopets' logo.
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
MSI GS75
As the Maserati or BMW of laptops, it would fit perfectly in the hands of a professional needing firepower under the hood, sophistication and class on the surface, and gaming prowess (sports mode if you will) in between.
MSI PS63
The MSI PS63 is an amazing laptop and I would definitely consider buying one in the future.
Brother RJ-4230B
This small mobile printer is exactly what I need for invoicing and other jobs such as sending fellow tradesman details or step-by-step instructions that I can easily print off from my phone or the Web.