I know I posted in the Kickstarter thread, but you guys have to try this. This is insanely addictive. I've been playing for hours already, even though I've been using the same character. It really feels like Super Puzzle Fighter 2, which was developed by the guy working on this game.

http://www.fantasystrike.com/game/index.php#

The tabletop game can be found here btw:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/67928/puzzle-strike

Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sirlin/puzzle-strike-3rd-edition-shadows-expansion

I haven't had much of a problem with some of the AI opponents, but Argargarg, that Cthulhu-ish character, is insanely overpowered. I've been slogging away at this for the last 2 hours, and I still haven't developed a proper strategy to beat him.

The really fun thing about this game is that it has that feel of a brick busting game, with a blend of tabletop card games. I'm not sure if anyone's played SPF2 before, but playing SPF2 with friends is really intense. Ofc, Puzzle Strike is turn-based, unlike SPF2, but still that feeling of crashing gems and sending them to your opponent's tray is really cool.

How much do you need to pay to experience the full game?

The full set contains the usability of all the characters. I'm looking at the store now and it looks like you'll need a total of $100 to purchase the full set of 20 characters. Not worth it IMO. If you must pay, the best way is to just play it every week (the demo lets you sample 2 new characters per week), and pick out the characters you like the most. Alternatively, you can pay USD9 to get access to all the characters for one month, then from there find your favourite characters and just purchase them for your account.

I won't be paying for this though. The tabletop version is more worth it, even if it costs $10 more for the full set (20 characters in total). The online version is a nice way to get inducted into the game, but I prefer to laugh at my friends in their faces :P

I had to play the tutorial twice to understand. The game's a bit ... unusual. After that, I recommend you play against the AI a few times to get the hang of the chips.

Best suggestion I can make is to look around on the Sirlin Games site for the rulebook for the board game. Give that a read. Both work exactly the same.