Joining the growing ranks of role-playing puzzle games, Konami’s Puzzle Chronicles looks like it will be a good fit for anyone who was a fan of Puzzle Quest or other puzzle RPGs. The demo version I saw was on the Nintendo DS, though it should also ship for PSP and be downloadable for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare.

The puzzle portion of the game is very similar to the old Puzzle Fighter game. Series of blocks drop down while you try and line up colors. There are several types of blocks in the game, but the important ones are the trigger blocks (they destroy same-color blocks they touch), skull blocks (destroy these to do damage to your opponents) and solid blocks. Solid blocks are important because if you make the right shapes with them, they’ll merge into one larger block and often unlock special attacks.

Of course, there are many variations on the basic puzzles. For example, when you are battling an opponent (say as part of a “go kill it” quest), the puzzle will actually be on its side, and pieces will fall to the right. As you collect skulls, your skull meter will fill and you’ll attack your enemy. The touchscreen on the DS is devoted to the puzzle, but the top screen is a dramatic enactment of your battle with your foe. OK, so it isn’t actually that dramatic, when you destroy enough skulls, you run over and give the opponent a good thwack with your weapon or visa versa.

The game will have minigames for training pets, unlocking items/weapons and just for upgrading your hero outside of the story. Also, there should be multiplayer support so you can battle your friends to see who is the puzzle master.

As you’d expect, you finish quests, unlock story, advance in the game toward more and greater challenges. What I really took home from the demo is that Konami isn’t reinventing the wheel. This game is a safe bet. Unless you hate the new puzzle system, if you liked Puzzle Quest, you’ll love Puzzle Chronicles.