A much better version of this style of game is called Puzzle Quest. It's got similar game mechanics, but far more depth to it than puzzle hero. Thanks to Nola from New Zealand for introducing me to the game.

The following links take you to puzzle quests home page, links to images and demo download links:

Home:

http://www.puzzle-quest.com/

images:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=puzzle+quest&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

Download:

http://www.download.com/Puzzle-Quest-Challenge-of-the-Warlords/3000-2111_4-10805362.html?hhTest=1

Nice spinal, SirRabbit . . . thanks for the well wishes and same to you. Graylox, I haven't had Mrs.F sit down and look thru those links yet, but I have . . .. a wealth of info. Thanks again! A few days into Lyrica she still seems much more active, but the brain is spacing rapidly and I can see that she just wants to sleep. Why bad things happen to good people I'll never understand.

wow, stephen. that is amazing. of course you are still in pain.

I was posting an image onto the main page of my photobucket album and noticed that my wife had uploaded an MRI image of my back. In it you can see T11 and T12 fractures plus less significant damage to T5,6, & 7 as well as 8,9 and 10, though the damage to the latter are not as obvious on the image that's been posted. Bear in mind that I've lost three inches in height because of the compression of the vertebrae due to the impact with the road. I was 5' 11" before the accident I'm now slightly less than 5' 8". You can see how a large proportion of T11 and T12 have disintigrated. Tey are called wedge fractures and it's whats causing the most significant pain though the T6, 7 region also hurts quite badly.

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/SPINEIMAGE2.jpg

p.s.

I sympathise with your wife Mr Fishy. My wifes grandmother suffered with it and I've looked after people with it when I was a medic, so can appreciate the pain and discomfort she i in (and Graylox as well)

copmom

But what I'm getting from your post is that you still are taking them, and you still have a script for them? Please correct me if I am wrong!

Thanks, Suki

FkyMom/graylox, thanks so much for your wishes and the info. We'll go through the posted links together in a while and may be in touch. :-)

Hi, Mr.Fishy, sorry to hear about Mrs.Fishy's diagnosis.
I take Lyrica about 8 months. After a certain recovery in the beginning, I am not so well now.
The chaotic course of FMS makes it difficult, to say if a med helps or not. What is FMS, what are side effects? You both should read the enclosed leaflet very carefully. I didn't know, that this med could have such severe mental influence. In this case, it is very helpful, when so. keeps an eye on you. There is indeed one very pleasant side effect for me: weight loss :)
Here are some links about Fibromyalgia and Lyrica.
If you or Mrs.Fishy want more (personal) infos from me, please feel free to ask.
BuBBy may give you my email address, if wanted.

http://chronicfatigue.about.com/
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/od/whatisfibromyalgia/a/fibrosymptoms.htm
http://arthritis.about.com/od/pregabalin/a/Lyrica.htm
http://drugsaz.about.com/od/drugs/lyrica.htm
http://www.fmaware.org/site/PageServer

My best wishes to you both.
graylox

Suki.. I take Xanax too, have been for years. First I was on one every 4 hours, then weaned myself down to 3 a day, then 2 a day, and now just take 1/2 of one twice a day. Sometimes I even forget the nighttime one. I think a lot of it has to do with knowing it is there IF needed. I didn't have to take anything else (like Valium) to wean off of them.

wow, mrfishy- i'm sorry to hear about your wife. i hope the two of you get this under control quickly.

you will be in my thoughts.
:D

Graylox . . . it hasn't even been 48 hours since Mrs. F was diagnosed w/Fibromyalgia at 43. She was given a 24 pak sample of Lyrica and says it's really helped w/her leg pain. She's been much more active these 2 days. She had become somewhat a couch slug.
Is this a drug you are familiar with and, if so, any important info to share? We are aware that this is a life-time sentence at this point.
Thanks

oh wow, stephen- i hope you have an amazing vacation. you and your wife sound like you are really giving your kids some amazing exposure to the world. that is so awesome.

i'll be wishing for you (and everyone here) to experience small amounts of pain, several moments of clarity and lots and lots of pleasure.

:D

Wasn't paying attention to my Email's(5 in-boxes)lol!

Glad we got it! I was doing some cleaning and found an Email from Reflexive, dated June 27th stating it was announcing its release on their site.....

Suki

Thanks for your well wishes guys and to Grouche I sleep upwards of 17 hours a day some days, so I am lucky in some regards; but methinks the sleepiness is more associated with the accident because I've been sleeping like this since then. The medics put it down to the opoids, but I didn't start on opoids because I was sent home with bruising only from the accident and emergency department. - It took the medics nearly a year to discover that I'd broken my back in four places; hence the problems I'm having now. They even put me through physiotherapy shortly after the accident which was as it turns out the wrong thing to do - Still, I'm not bitter about it as I'm still alive.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Graylox; I to have difficulty concentrating. I rarely play games for more than several minute’s at a time now (usually a couple of levels); though I do play quite a lot of games in a day. I'll skip from one to the next, though some of my larger games such as Crysis , Unreal Tournament 3 and the recent Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 games as well as others such as Assassins Creed and older games like Battlefield 2 can hold me longer than a few minutes, but then, they are much more immersive than an arcade game.

We chose Luxor because of the proximity of lots of things to do. I'm really looking forwards to taking some photo's of the Nile at sunset; yeah okay, sunsets may be clichéd these days, but the setting is potentially perfect for some beautiful imagery. We may be taking a sleeper from Luxor to Cairo so as to take in the pyramids as well, but I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to take much more traveling after the flight out, which from Manchester airport (we live about 20 minutes drive from the airport) takes about 6 hours. The difference in cost between taking the overnight sleeper or flying is double the cost at $400 for the train journey for the whole family (four of us)

Maybe we should set up a thread especially for those of us who are suffering in some way, lol. Call it the decrepit corner; we can chat about our aches and pains, treatments; gripe about the medics and point each other to useful research. ;)

May I register in your club ?
I don't know how often I had withdrawal symptoms in my life with Fibromyalgia.
But in the moment I'm not sure, if the side effects of a new medicine aren't worse.
The computer does really help. I can't play so intensively like Stephen,
because I can't concentrate me on one single thing. I get help surfing through the net,
or trying to beautify some photos.
Stephen I wish you a very inciting vacation, with a lot of distraction.
Luxor is a guaranty for a new thrill.
graylox

Mr. Rabbit . . . I want to extend my wishes that your detox/withdrawal goes as comfortably as is reasonable to expect. I fight addictions everyday and there is no easy way. I read above that you are awakening in withdrawal . . . at least it seems you are able to sleep, a wonderful sign. Besides the complete lack of motivation and energy, the sleeplessness, I find, is the worst part.
I'm guessing that most folks have no clue what it's like to have to take strong narcotics just to feel crappy, which beats feeling at all. There is no/very minimal "high" involved here. Just survival.

Hi Robm, thank you. To be honest, what keeps me sane is looking at the state of the world and realizing that there are far more people in the world in a worse position than I am. The accidet as been a great strain on my life nd family. Thankfully I have a brilliant wife who has been of immense support. I only wish I could do for her what she's done for me.

Yeah, games really are brilliant. :)

regards

Stephen

p.s.funkymom, I spoke to my doctor yesterday and she said that I can expect a few more weeks of hell befre I start to feel a little better from the withdrawals. The only thing that worries me is that it will all be for nothing as at the moment since reducing my dose my pain levels have increased greatly, so I may have to return to the old dose anyway. I'm hoping by the time my vacation starts on the 23rd I'll feel better. We're going to Luxor in Egypt for two weeks. I'm thinking of braving one of the early morning balloon rides, but it depends upon how the gondolas land as any jarring landing would be too hard on my back. We shall see. :)

robm

Thanks your a sweetie......

Yes, games, Beta testing, are a great stress reliever! I wish I could get my hubby who retired about a year ago to play them, he was so used to working and concentrating on his task at hand. Now I can see he has more lack of concentration and is far more irritable that he used to be. He will stand behind me when I play the Hidden Object ones, says isn't that it, but I can't get him to play one!

Thanks again for your kind words, Suki

Stephen, I think Gamezebo published a study recently highlighting the therapeutic benefits of playing games. How it helped to relieve the physical symptoms of pain as well as a host of emotional and mental benefits.

Stephen (and Suki) thanks for your honesty in sharing what you have been through. I find you both inspiring for not giving up in the face of adversity and difficult circumstances.

I will send you my list for the 10 plus, lol ! Sometimes I think they just find me, or share Beta testers lists, lmao!

In summer, I just run out of time.....

Take care, Suki

stephen- i hope you are adjusting to the change in your medications. i've been through that and i know what a drag it can be.

as far as you 'living for games at the moment', i don't think that it's anything to be ashamed of under the circumstances. especially given the fact that you go out of your way to help and share with others.

you are a true prince among men.

Hi Suki, thanks for your info. I highly recommend the Wii for family entertainment. whenever we have family over, the Wii is put on, and everyone loves it. We've only bought the arade style games (such as the fair ground one) so far as they give the best value for money, though I did buy one shooter called Medal of Honor Heroes, but it was rubbish. I don't intend buying any of the other consoles though as I still love my PC lol.

I've written to BF already, but so far have not got a reply. I'm also starting to write to other developer/distributors. I thought I might as well seeing as I live for games at the moment; (that sounds sad I know, but there isn't much else I can do now).

Whabbit

If you go to the Big Fish-Game Community you will see play ad free, lol, click on it!

Then you will see if you want to get sneak peaks or beta test for them it will cost you 4.95 a month or 29.95(this is for their online gaming also) a year in addition to belonging to the game club, not worth it in my opinion!!!!! The only online game I play is Texas Holdem and I play for free at NLOP.

I have been in contact with Fish many times, giving them heads-up on good games that I have tested, allot of which they have gotten! I also offered my services as a Beta Tester(that when I figure it out is 10 plus developers I test for), but a no go on my offer!
Yes, still have your Email, didn't think it was that important for a personnel reply and so others that have read your question could see my answer also!
BF, good price on games, If you want to pay to play online NO!!!!!!!

Glad that writing the reviews helps also! As I look forward to reading them and your other suggestions, like Acky's XP Breakout(gota wait till B-Day money comes from my aunt)and Nuclear Ball.
I could always dust off the Nintendo's and the 65.00 plus games and make the hubby mad that he can't watch TV, lmao ! I stopped at N64, but Wii looks fun.

Take care, Suki

Anyone that's had problems with running the game; the developer recently posted the following over in the comments section:

For people who where getting “Can’t find DepthStencil format!” error -try downloading a latest version from

http://www.genimo.com/games/puzzle_hero

we just fixed this bug

Thanks Suki, though despite what I say, writing the reviews is about the only thing that I have to do apart from the frequent beta testing from Alawar. (Though it's slowed down a good deal recently, and it gives me a sense of achievement, no matter how miniscule the work is. Games have pretty much become part of my life since the accident. Thankfully, it gives me lots of opportunity to interact with my children, which I did a lot more before the accident. I can't pick them up any more and any physical stuff is out of the question. They think it's really cool, especially when they get most games that are released.

I was thinking of extending my Beta testing elsewhere and wondered how I should go about approaching Big Fish games? Now that I've got used to their games manager I don't mind buying games from them (I was put off by the game manager for a long time). Do I need an introduction, or do they take you on as a trial to see if you report the games properly???? I am interested. Just Email me. I think you have my Email. Thanks in advance for any help.

Whabbit

With you on the drug bit, it will take some time, they shouldn't(or you) go cold turkey!
It is very dangerous! I take a drug called Xanax for panic attacks, they say that I would have to be weaned off with Valium(another goody)! I try doing it myself(my script is for 3 times a day), I was down to 1 a day, then back up to sometimes 5! I actually have a supply of 4 months, but the idea of them not being there would send me back. It's a tough thing to fight!
Don't worry about the reviews, you and your family are more important!!!!!!!!!

Just come in and say hi, give a rating, I'm sure we all know your gaming skill!

Keep the faith, Suki

Hi Suki,
I decided a few months ago that if I didn't get the name of the game at least the day before I wouldn't bother writing a review at all. I didn't get an heads up on todays, so wasn't even going to bother with a post, but wa s quite taken with the game, so decided to do a quick review; though technically it's not a review, more like a list of links to other information.

It's a definite keeper for me. I'm just about overloaded with match three games now, but this one is a welcome cange from the usual ones.

My reviews have been rather flat of late, but I put that down to the fact that I'm messing around with my drug doses at the moment. I wake up in witdrawal every morning at the moment. (Anyone who's ever had opoid dug withdrawal will know what I'm talking about{it's akin to the cold turkey you get when withdrawing from heroin, but not quite as bad} Hopefully soon I'll be back to my old self, but it seems to be taking forever. :(

One very different match 3!

I love it!

Suki

It's a keeper for me!!!

Hey, Whabbit, your review wasn't up yet, but loved #1's video.

Suki

Thanks Stephen for another great review, this looks like a keeper.

Bye for now.

5 Minute review:

Thanks for the video clip Kristen; theirs no need for a long review today, because the video says it all. I’ve posted some images as well.

I’m really impressed with the game so far. This is definitely a different style of match 3 game with an adventure attached to the way you make your moves on the board. For example, matching swords will create an attack whereas matching potions will help to heal any damage done by your opponent. To end a level you must kill your opponent, so it’s important that you plan your moves on the board to create as many attack possibilities as possible. There are other rewards to be earned as well. At the end of each level you are given your level statistics. You can then go to the shop and buy items of armor or weapons to enhance your attack and defense capabilities. You can also access the inventory via the menu button on the playing field at any time, to see what items you hold. As you progress you increase in level which unlocks more weapons. There are also boss monsters to kill that are stronger than the normal monsters (though they don’t look any larger). Creating four or more in a row gives you an extra move. Using this tactic it is possible to kill the monster without the monster making one blow, though to build up your money so that you can buy more items it’s better to keep the game running. You can take quite a lot of damage before you need to think about finishing off the monster. ::lol:

There’s an excellent help section, and you’re introduced to the game via a simple tutorial. Apart from the video that Kristen posted, there’s also another one over on You Tube, though I think it’s the same one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNuMXRFeikQ

Images:

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Puzzle%20Hero/?start=all&special_track=album_paginate_top_view_all

Slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Puzzle%20Hero/?albumview=slideshow

This is definitely a keeper for me. And for its original game play, bright graphics and innovative ideas I’d give this game 8 out of 10.

Thank you Genimo Interactive and the game giveaway team for an excellent game. That’s two really cool games this weekend (though looking at yesterday’s thumbs down you wouldn’t have thought so. By the way, yesterday’s game is free standing and today’s game comes with an activation code. ;)