Telltale Games has a reputation for cinematic adventure, and with good cause. With full seasons of Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island under their belts, the developers are shifting their sights to a new original IP, and this one looks like hilarious brain teasing fun.
The first thing anyone will notice about Puzzle Agent is its striking art style. With harsh pencil lines, purposely stiff animation, and Sunday comic strip look, Puzzle Agent is a joy to look at. Coupled with the hilarious circumstances and puzzles on display, and it's obvious that the presentation is a very strong suit for the game.
The game plays like something of a cross between a mini-game collection and ye olde adventure games of yore. Navigation in the demo we saw was handled automatically, but the puzzles involved some really fun brainteasers. One puzzle had the character rip up a newspaper, leaving you to reassemble it, jigsaw puzzle style.
Another puzzle later on had you placeing obstacles on a snowy field to bounce around a path with a snowmobile. That particular puzzle had several solutions, and our solution was different than that of the Telltale Games' rep. The puzzles are simple in execution, but devious in their solutions, just like any good adventure game should be.
If a puzzle is proving too devious however, there's a generous hint system that varies depending on the difficulty chosen. Using hints and providing incorrect solutions lower your overall score however, giving the game a good semblance of replay value. In a funny touch, the amount of hints you are given come in the form of pieces of chewing gum, because (of course) the Puzzle Agent thinks better when he's chewing gum.
Puzzle Agent will be released in June 2010 for PC, iPhone, iPad, and Wii.