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Available
Right Here!
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Platform
PC
Genre
Puzzle
Publisher
Alawar Entertainment
Developer
Mif2000
ESRB
T (Teen)
Released
April 8, 2010
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Looks great visually, with cartoon-like graphics and a comic-style
storytelling
- Uses the Shakespearean influence for its characters and wit
effectively
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Very short gameplay session – most gamers will complete all 25
levels in 2-3 hours
- While most puzzles are challenging without being frustrating,
others will have gamers talking to jester’s skulls because of their
insane difficulty
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Review:
And Yet it Moves (PC)
Review:
Reckless Disregard for Gravity (PC)
Review:
Portal (PC)
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Hamlet
Score: 7.5 / 10
William Shakespeare is simply one of the
greatest storytellers that has ever lived. But as anybody that’s taken a
Shakespeare course in college or attempted to read it even earlier in
high school will attest, his tales written in the language of the 16th
century are difficult for the modern reader to easily understand, and
can be
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denizens from one of the Bard’s most famous
plays but little else, especially leaving behind the Olde English
written words for a much less dark and sometimes comical gaming tale.
Essentially an action puzzle collection of 25 levels, gamers assume the
role of a time traveler who’s appeared in the age of Hamlet (and has
landed on – and knocked out cold – Hamlet himself just as he was to set
off to rescue his lovely Ophelia). The objective is to solve point &
click puzzles on each level to advance toward a rescue of Ophelia – as
the time traveler takes on Hamlet’s quest while he’s on the mend
battling a cadre of boss characters along the way to end each “chapter”
of the game, ending in a finale against Claudius.
Using a colorful yet simplistic cartoon-style graphical presentation,
Hamlet is quite visually pleasing. Since there’s no voice-over used in
the game whatsoever and minimal music, the story unfolds in an
interesting manner, employing a comic book panel method of telling the
story, with often humorous results.
Hamlet’s puzzles are what make the gameplay worthwhile. However, while
most puzzles are challenging without being frustrating, others will have
gamers talking to jester’s skulls because of their insane difficulty.
That, or simply because gamers will have a few forehead-slapping moments
when they realize how easy the answer is to some puzzles that are
seemingly perplexing (the “Password” and “Rock, Paper, Scissors Card
Game” puzzles immediately come to mind). Fortunately, there’s a hint
system for gamers that can set them on the path to conundrum completion.
As of the writing of this review, Hamlet is only available via the
Alawar website as a download for $9.95US. There’s a free one-hour demo
gamers can try before committing to purchasing Hamlet. But the major
criticism of Hamlet is that it is extremely short-lived. Most gamers
should be able to complete the entire game, even if they get stuck on
certain puzzles, with two or three hours of gameplay.
However, there’s a very fun, somewhat funny and interesting puzzle game
here for about 10 bucks, which is just about the cost of a movie that is
over in about half the time it will take gamers to complete Hamlet.
Looked at in that light, the money is well spent for a casual gamer that
needs some variety to their casual gaming library. Unfortunately,
there’s no real replay value – once the gamer has figured a puzzle out,
there’s no challenge to attempting it again.
Still, if to buy or not to buy is the question, then the answer is yes
for any casual gamer looking for a rather unique and challenging point &
click adventure to fill some brief gaming moments.
- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(April 29, 2010)
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