I wasn't able to get into Galactrix like the previous Puzzle Quest games. They mixed up the formula and it doesn't have that same addiction factor as before. The gem movement takes some getting used to, but it does lead to more strategic gameplay like being able to prevent certain moves your opponent can make on their next turn. The different systems don't provide any heads up display information so you can't get an idea what is in the system before you visit. And the minimap doesn't even provide system names making it pretty useless. The game also crashes way too much, and each time it does I get discouraged from playing further. Nevertheless, it's still a decent RPG match 3 adventure, just a bit of a disappointment considering the other Puzzle Quest titles were so much better.

Bought this on sale after having spent many hours enjoying Challenge of the Warlords. This game has a familiar Puzzle Quest feel but with a fresh new take on the match 3 mechanic. The game modes are challenging without being frustrating and the story board elements are amusing. The routing system between games can become a little tiresome much like previous Puzzle Quest games but the option to "buy-pass" some of this with your in game "credit" cuts the tedium down. The game has crashed a couple of times but that aside it's been a fun return to a game style I like with plenty of new elements to entertain.

For a puzzle game, this is suprisingly addictive, after the first hour or so, this get's quite strategical and difficult.

Recommend that you get all the PSI you can, while the hacking and battles are easy. I made the mistake of going for firepower and that is rarely a good thing.

If you do go down the 'RUN AND GUN' method, get better weapons by selling cargo when it is green on the sell menu!

GET IT NAOW

It's down to luck and the enemies are almost always lucky. ♥♥♥♥ this game.

I can't help, but notice insane amount of negative reviews, bashing the game for all sorts of gameplay issues, i.e. constant crashes, unfair AI etc.

I played the game for couple of hours offline, so don't pay attention to time record, and I didn't experience a single crash (played on Win7 64bit, CPU: AMD, GPU: NVIDIA) I should try to play online a bit, if crashes occur - I'll update my comment.
My only real complaint for current is the lack of controller support of any sorts.

Also I haven't find AI cheating at all. I admit, the enemy pretty much owned me at first, but, understandably, I accepted all my failures, because the board layout completely differs from original PQ series, so it takes time to learn the predictable patterns for falling tiles (truly, as the story take place in zero-gravity space, new tiles can be falling from all directions, not just from up-to-down)
So, once you figure out how the board works - the enemies would become no problem. And learning new puzzle mechanics is always fair and interesting challenge.

Speaking of the space setting: that's another thing you can easily praise "PQ: Galactrix" for. They have successfully managed to rework the whole mechanics of the original game and blend in the usual space fiction tropes with new gameplay features (say, for example, aforementioned zero-gravity battle grid with tiles falling from all directions or the mandatory for space games mining business, that was combined here with useful weapon crafting or selling the extracted minerals to the star systems, willing to pay the best price per ton.. Or selling the cargo cheaply to a hostile race to buy their loyalty)

The game atmosphere has heavily reminded me in many ways of "Space Rangers" - another game series I love very much.
Surely, Galactrix is a nice spin-off and worth at least the summer sale price, which is what I bought it for and thoroughly enjoyed playing the game - I'd say, give it a shot.

PIcked this up in a sale at 90% off; and yet I struggle to make sense of it. It feels like the computer is cheating all the time. I make a move, match 3,4 or even 5 gems, and if i'm lucky I'll get a chain. The computer will make a move and the gems added to the board conviently creates chain after chain after chain. The AI's moves is like a vegas fruit machine paying out, mine are like rotten fruit. I guess I could just be unlucky, but I suspect some fowl play going on. Oh and it crashed afer 25mins of play, taken steam with it.

I loved PQ-1, a bit more meh about PQ-2 but this is likely to never be played again..