Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign Walkthrough

Game Introduction – Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign

Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign is a puzzle/action game created by D3Publisher of America. You match three or more same-colored gems on the game board to power up your assembly of Marvel heroes and attack villains. Gamezebo’s quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to save the world alongside Iron Man, Thor, and their pals.

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

• Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign is free to play. You can download it by clicking the “Play Now!” button at the top of this page.
• When you begin the game, a quick story scenario plays out. You can skip it by pressing the fast-forward button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. You can skip other story scenes in the same way.
• When the story is done, you play through a quick tutorial that explains Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign‘s mechanics.
• When the tutorial is done, you’re allowed to start matching gems in earnest.

How to Play

• Objective – The story in Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign revolves around an ISO-8 outbreak, during which meteorites containing power-granting crystals rain down all over Earth. Iron Man and Nick Fury quickly discover the crystals are being traded on the black market, and must be recovered. Meanwhile, Marvel’s greatest super villains are using the chaos to take over National Security.
• Your Heroes – Up to three Marvel heroes can fight for you at a time. Select “Collection” from the main menu to manage your heroes. They appear as comic covers. You’re allowed to choose your three heroes before you begin a battle.
• Recruit Heroes – You can recruit new heroes (comic covers) by selecting “Recruit Heroes” from the main menu. New heroes can be bought with coins or ISO-8 crystals. You’re awarded a random comic cover when you buy, but you’re allowed a sneak peek of what you might acquire.
• Coins and ISO-8 Crystals – Coins and ISO-8 crystals serve as currency in Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign. Both are won in battle, or can be purchased with real-world cash. Coins and ISO-8 are used to recruit new heroes, and ISO-8 is also used to level up your characters.
• Training – You can train your heroes to use new attacks if you purchase or win the necessary comic cover. Select “Train” in the main menu.
• Leveling Up Heroes – Training your hero to use new moves also lets you build up their levels. Tap “Raise Level” in the Train menu. Leveling up your hero requires ISO-8. 

Single-Player Campaign

• Where the Story’s At – Dark Reign‘s story is delivered through its single-player game. Each level you play through contributes to the narrative. Remember, you can skip story scenes by pressing the fast-forward button, but where’s the fun in that?
• Choose Your Level – You progress through Dark Reign with the help of a map. Tap on a level to play it. You can also tap on a completed level to replay it if you want to do a little grinding for comic covers or money.

How to Battle

• Choose Your Destiny – You’re allowed to bring three heroes into battle. You can choose your heroes from the roster before the fight begins. Each hero has their own hit point count, and is capable of unleashing special attacks.
• Match Three or More – When you’re on the playing board, you can swap gems to make same-colored matches. If you match three or more gems, your foremost enemy is dealt damage according to your hero’s level. The more gems you match up, the more damage that gets dealt. If you make more than one match, you attack more than once.
• Symbolism – Each gem is marked with a symbol that indicates which hero deals the damage when a match is made. For instance, circle is Iron Man, arrow is Hawkeye, lightning bolt is Storm, and hourglass is Black Widow.
• Enemy Attacks – Enemies primarily attack your heroes by laying down deadly gems that will deal damage if they’re not dealt with by a certain number of turns. Make these trigger gems part of a match in order to diffuse them.
• Hero Order – The last hero to attack will also be the one to absorb damage when the bad guys take their turn. Keep that in mind in case one or more of your heroes is low on health.
• Enemy Order – You can tap on an enemy to bring them to the fore, therefore making them the immediate target of your attacks. It’s not a bad idea to get rid of stronger foes first.

Ability Points and Special Attacks

• Ability Points – Ability Points (AP) are built up as you make matches. When they’re at a sufficient level for a character, you can tap their flashing tiles to launch a special attack.
• Special Attacks – Your characters’ special attacks can hit for big damage, protect your other team members, and more. The nature of the attack you unleash depends on the color of the flashing tiles.

Health

• Damage – Each of your heroes has a set number of hit points that are depleted by enemy attacks. The foremost hero bears the brunt of enemy attacks.
• Restoration – Your heroes don’t heal up in between battles. You can wait for their health to restore, or you can utilize healing packs that can be purchased for coins.

Multiplayer

• SHIELD Versus – Shield Versus, accessible from the main menu, lets you compete against other players’ teams for prizes. You both take turns moving gems and making matches.
• Weekly Tournament – The Weekly Tournament lets you compete with other players for special rewards, new characters, and top leaderboard rankings.

Congratulations!

You have completed Gamezebo’s quick start guide for Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign. Be sure to check back often for game updates, staff and user reviews, user tips, forums comments and much more here at Gamezebo!

Nadia Oxford

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In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.