In just over a week most of you should be holding issue 139 of that wonderful tome of gaming wisdom we call PC Powerplay. I'm not repeating myself here, I promise, but you will note that in the Strategy State of Play for that issue I make note of a little handheld game called Puzzle Quest that has a PC Demo available for download.

Over the weekend I had a number of pressing social engagements (read pints of beer) and between those I really didn't feel I had the time to sit down and play a proper game. Instead I started rummaging through my hard-drive looking for any quick fix games I might have downloaded when I came across the Puzzle Quest demo once more. I won't go into the mechanics but think of it as Bejeweled with some very basic RPG elements thrown in. Either way it was the perfect way to while away the time, it is a jump in jump out style of game. Each 'puzzle' only last about ten to fifteen minutes and while I could probably knock off a couple of Chernobyl's mutated residents in the same amount of time the quick "load/play/quit" nature of this game was a much more appealing at that time.

The problem from my end is that there are really not that many games like this for PC. Sure I could go to Newgrounds and rummage through the piles of gaming refuse for the occasional good flash title. Hell, I even once played that stupid monkey coconut kicking game when I was really bored. But I crave a game like Puzzle Quest, a game which has got some production values behind it yet is more than happy enough to offer the kind of gameplay well suited to short bursts.

The problem as I see it is that most publishers are not going to be prepared to invest in such a game. With the amount of money PC gamers pump into their machines they expect a certain level of complexity to their gaming. Even Puzzle Quest is a DS/PSP only title at this stage despite the presence of a PC demo. I understand the reluctance developers may have in this space but I still want more games like Trackmania, where I just load and go. I don't always want to engage with a game in anything but the most superficial of ways. I occasionally want a game to be a quick fix and nothing more.

With all the versions of Trackmania I own largely dealt with and having plumbed the depths of the Puzzle Quest demo I guess next time I've not got hours to devote to a game when I'm bored I'm stuck going back to kicking that monkey's damned coconut. Of course if anyone feels like making a comment and letting me know of any games they know of that could fill this hole... well... let just say I do read the blog comments.