POSTED 25/8/11


HAMILTON'S GREAT ADVENTURE

Fatshark
PS3/PSN (also on PC)

Hand us down our whippin’ whip, hand us down our hat. Hurry now and don’t be late 'cause we ain’t got time to chat. Actually, we’ve around 269 words, so let’s go.

Imagine, if you will, the adventures of Indiana Jones (big balls and all) folded into the story bits of Up not involving a balloon-powered abode, then chuck in some classic matinee Errol Flynn and a slash of Bazza McKenzie. Erm, not so much his particular adventures, but his Borry Crackerish looks, for the only bird Ernest Hamilton’s charming here is his pet and puzzling PA, Sasha.

Now, jam ’em into junglistic, icy and more environs in a puzzle/platformer like you’ve seen and played before, but not looking nearly so gorgeous. Yep, it’s the old platforms of blocks laid out in various ways to make you die innumerable deaths (cue many face palms) then scream “Wrong! Do it again!” at you trick. Usually frustration guaranteed, but somehow that old bugger charm assuages much angst here. Well, for a while at least.

In the guise of boasts of younger exploits told to his grandkiddie Amy (nice name!) as an old geezer, there’s fantastic talk of ‘fluxatrons’ and ‘transmorphanizers’ (the latter looking akin to a giant Dyson bladeless fan). It’s all quite lovely in a bonkers kind of way – especially when you realise that the big bads of the tale are fishy peeps. Not fishy as in dodgy, but beings of a piscine propensity.

Presentation’s mostly ace – lush environments, an apt minimalist soundtrack and a nicely-angled difficulty ramp. Things start amoeba-basic, but once sucked in by its evil charms challenge escalates expediently, with more varieties of enemies, traps and pitfalls than we’ve word count left to detail.

Get down, uh-huh, with the world’s first great taste of fish.

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