It was just this past week that Capcom announced a new entry in their beloved Puzzle Fighter series for mobile, and already here at PAX West they had an early version of the game playable on the show floor. What’s cool about their demo setup is that it’s a kiosk with four iPad Minis each loaded with the game, and when you try out the demo you’re actually playing against one of the people right next to you rather than just an AI opponent. In our hands-on video you can see me getting my butt kicked by the very nice gentleman next to me.

So yeah, I’m not great at Puzzle Fighter, but I sure did have fun playing it. My major concern with the game is the touch controls, which are pretty straightforward–drag to move a piece, tap to rotate a pice, swipe down to quickly place a piece–but can totally fall apart when you’re under pressure, especially as the blocks build up in your game board. Also, I’m not a HUGE fan of the art style used in this version of Puzzle Fighter, but I guess it makes sense that they’d not go with the original game’s pixel sprites given the high resolution screens and the varying sizes of mobile devices. The online battling is what should make this game shine though, and I’m cautiously optimistic it’ll all turn out fine when Puzzle Fighter officially launches likely before the end of this year.