Good Show!
[I hope at least two other reviews have here that tagline, but I’m not checking.]
Henry Hatsworth, Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third, Cole
This game for the DS offers a unique experience by mixing two different genres of games, puzzle and side-scrolling action. If released individually, it is doubtful that either game would warrant any discussion as neither is particularly good. But when the creators mixed together these two mediocre games and sprinkled the brew with a charming setting and cast of characters, a memorable concoction was created.
Henry Hatsworth is an elderly, mustachioed, pompous English gentleman – read: English gentleman – who after a lifetime of adventure is in search of The Gentleman’s Suit in order to prevent the incursion of badness from the Puzzle Realm. He’s got the bowler hat, and the bosses have the rest of it. He is aided by his trusty young street urchin Cole and constantly at odds with the dastardly Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third, a rival that wants to prove he is better than Hatsworth, we have enough plot to sting some levels together. The story is not memorable, but it is amusing in a “these characters are totally ridiculous” kind of way. Every so often in the game there are confrontations with the villains and our proper protagonist which serve only to show both how silly these characters are. I would personally like to see Henry in a Laytony adventure game, but am not holding my breath as he does not strike me as much of a thinker. The game is fully “voice acted”. The quotes exist because full words are rarely spoken, but different variations of a voice idea. Hatsworth warbles in old British-aristocrat “bah blah blaas” and Weasleby sneers in short and long versions of “Nhey he he,” like a good cartoonish villain. While amusing in there own right, the tone of the interactions between all of the characters is far more memorable than the actual dialogue. I can’t remember anything they said, but I remember that it sounded funny.
As stated, supra, the actual game play is a mix of two different games. The puzzle game is a match three game that is played using the bottom screen and the stylus (there may be a way to play using only the buttons, but you will have a hard time making moves fast enough in the puzzle field). The action part of the game is fairly basic run and whack baddies with your cane. There is some shooting with little shots and big ones that use up meter with Henry’s trusty musket, but largely its melee based. Thankfully, its not just two games played simultaneously, there is some interaction.
When an enemy is destroyed on the top screen he is thrown to the bottom screen and becomes a new block in the puzzle field. Some power ups that are found also get tossed down below and are activated by matching three. Whenever a match is made some energy is generated and thrown into a meter. The meter can be filed twice. At one meter the hat from the Gentleman’s suit activates and stock Henry is transformed into young man Henry who basically plays the same, but he has a machete instead of a cane and wears jungle kakis instead of a suit. When the meter is filled a second time Tea Time can be activated by pressing a button on the bottom screen. Pushing the button causes the screen to fill with the ol’ union jack and shows a picture of iconic English characters, like Holmes and Watson, enjoying a nooice cupa tee. But really, Tea Time really means giant robot time as after the short interlude Henry dons a steam-punk, juggernaut overcoat and begins to give the enemies what for. But as the suit is used, the meter drains. And at the end of tea time, there is no more energy. So it is an important not to spam the Tea Time when it is first available as there may be too many undestroyed enemies. Also, the suit cannot really jump as well as its non-suited occupant, so on platform-heavy level sections, Tea Time is to be avoided.
The game would probably have gotten boring pretty quickly despite its charm is not for the ability to upgrade. The game has currency and you buy upgraded abilities at a store which are one, necessary, and two, a small carrot to encourage you to collect the entire suit. And you will need encouragement. This game gets very difficult towards the end. The puzzling is never particularly challenging, although there are some enemies that can either lock up sections or otherwise screw with the puzzle area, but the side scrolling can have blind jumps as well as one-screen areas that are essentially arenas where the top screen is flooded with wave after wave of various pallet swaps of the five types of enemies. Some of whom do significant amounts of damage and have attacks that are difficult to avoid. Pro tip: as one full meter will transform our man into a young Henry with full health, if you wait until the old boy is almost dead and then transform, you will essentially get an extra bar of health (health’s in hearts, but that’s basically a life bar with whole numbers). The bosses are appealing visually but several of them are multistage and can take tons of hits to defeat. I remember it taking a fair number of tries to finish the game. This game is not of school of thought that says every player ought to be able to finish it.
In the end, this is a fun and memorable game that if nothing else should be tried to see the unique mixture it brings to the table. You do have to switch often and quickly between the stylus and the buttons. I found that it was fairly easy to do this by keeping the stylus between my right ring and middle finger and holding the system with my thumb and index finger. I was using a DSlite and do not have grizzly bear paws or Japanese schoolgirl hands. Your mileage may vary. Think of it as a two star game if you do not think you will be able to rapidly accommodate both play styles. All of the charm in the world cannot make up for a game if the interface makes it difficult to play. But if you can adapt and man up to conquer the difficult backend, you’ll have fun.
