No Barriers to Fun!

We met our friend Giddeon at the AbleGamers Accessibility Arcade in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When he first sat down with the AbleGamers crew, Giddeon didn't want to play any games. He told us that with his disability gaming was difficult. Giddeon has a rare disease that caused the growth of his arms .. Read More
A Window to the World

Shepherd University invited the AbleGamers Foundation to come on campus and do one of our Accessibility Arcades for the students and local disabled community. The event was a roaring success with hundreds of children and adults coming out to see the technology and in some cases experience gaming the first time. Read More

About the AbleGamers Foundation

Since 2004, the AbleGamers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, has served more than 56 million members of the disabled community by advocating greater access in video games. Today, AbleGamers is a leader in the development of equipment, programs and services to those living with disabilities, hardships, and quality-of-life issues that are a result of chronic illness or trauma. It is our goal to ensure that all people, regardless of their disability, can use gaming as a tool to have enriched social experiences with friends, family, and the world at large.

Puzzle Kingdoms - Accessible fun for Casual Gamers

Written by Steve Spohn

Published on 29 April 2009

Puzzle Kingdoms is one of the new hybrid type video games that combines various elements of RPGs and casual puzzle games. This hit sequel to Puzzle Quest from Infinite Interactive was supposed to be released in early 2008. However, due to unexplained reasons, the video games publisher Zoo Games pushed the game's release back until now.

Casual gamers love puzzle games but many gamers feel the need to see progress in order to be satisfied with their gaming experience. Thus, the new hybrid between puzzle and RPG was born.

You are the valiant knight commanding his armies, fighting against the evil oppressors of the land. The character moves along the map talking to other characters along the way in the same style as you might quest in an MMO RPG. All the while, you must make decisions about managing resources to keep your army supplied.

The difference is instead of battling with maneuvers or strategic tactics; you are taken to a puzzle screen where you must match specific pieces to do damage to your foe. There is a certain complexity to the game in that you must match specific pieces of the puzzle to gather mana, cast spells, or go into defensive mode.

Game Accessibility

Puzzle Kingdoms uses a very old school style of a large character being placed in front of your screen with a large white chat bubble. The text is clearly displayed in a large black font that will be easy to read to any disabled gamers with sight issues. Additionally, the game does make use of colors but everything that has a specific color is clearly marked by large symbols.

For example, crosses are white and leaves are green but fire is red. It may be more convenient to be able to see the colors of these items but for colorblind gamers the symbols are an intelligent move by the designers.

The sounds are entirely ambient and all character banter is handled by the oversized chat bubbles. If you are a deaf gamer or hearing impaired, you will not be missing any experiences in this game.

Finally, one handed gamers and the mobility impaired should have total access to Puzzle Kingdoms because everything is controlled by the mouse. Users click on individual puzzle pieces in order of which they wish to remove them from the board. Casual games are often far more friendly to disabled gamers than other genres and this game is no exception.

PC accessibility but not necessarily elsewhere

The PC version of this game is extremely accessible to disabled gamers of all types. However, this review only pertains to the PC version. Later this year the publishers will be releasing versions of Puzzle Kingdoms for the Wii and Nintendo DS. Undoubtedly, it will be more difficult for disabled gamers with limited mobility to participate in the Wii or Nintendo DS. Regardless, this is an excellent video game packed with hours of fun for both disabled gamers and casual gamers. You can pick up your copy of Puzzle Kingdoms from Direct2Drive for $19.99 downloaded directly to your computer. If you like fast-paced puzzle action with a bit of micromanaging powerful armies, check out Puzzle Kingdoms today.

Update: A demo for this game has been released and can be downloaded at http://files.filefront.com/Puzzle+Kingdoms+Demo/;13680526;/fileinfo.html Enjoy!