While living in a dark time full of generic, cookie-cutter, short and easy games; there is a light blooming from the gloomy lair of the once wicked and evil of EA. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is a unique and polished game combining two impressive gimmicks doing a well balanced challenge.

I am pretty much a Nintendo DS gamer, and every now and then I find interesting titles coming along. And this one represents for me further than a tribute to older titles or based on traditional schemes. I find it rather remarkable for a renaissance era in video games from the second golden age, in which things were simpler but much more effective.

HHitPA (to make it short) is funny, clever, well designed and very, very hard!

As I mentioned in the beginning, the game combines two gimmicks, which in one of them is a platforming style that is a bit similar to Mega Man X, and a puzzle feature which is very similar to Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon. At the beginning, I was concerned in how that would work out because I thought you would need to jump through the level while holding the stylus to move the puzzle below. Well, it is not such thing. By pressing X you toggle between the puzzle and adventure mode in the levels. While you are making trios, quadruples, quintuples or whateverples with the blocks, you gain energy that can help you to recover or even activate TEA TIME! (Motherfuckers!) when the gauge is full and you touch the lower screen, in which you are temporarily invincible using an awesome steam-punk robot suit in which your attack power is much stronger and that lasts until the super gauge runs empty. And explodes.

Through the game you feel like it is very challenging while very fair too. It is one of those titles in which you only die hundreds of times because you suck. And of course, through the pass of the levels, it becomes harder and harder. You will feel by the very last stages that the game pretty much hates you and doesn't want you to get it cleared. You get more battles, mini-bosses, enemy hoards, all of this can blow your mind but it feels fair and square after all. if you lose, you simply feel like you just need to try again sometime later. The difficulty itself also extends the gameplay for a decent amount, that goes without saying the puzzle feature which double the level crawling time.



The bosses are unique and each one has different tricks under the sleeve. Not to mention that each one of them got a different method to be beaten. You can make endless strategies by using your gun or your sword (or cane, depending on your health status), and each of them represent a good challenge. they are not fast paced like Mega Man games, but the deal of making plans in certain layout feels like it or Donkey Kong Country games.

The story is simple while not trying hard, there are surprises emerging everywhere even by simply looking at the level select maps the scenery changes gradually. Also the story has a bunch of interesting and impacting twists.

The art is also phenomenal, you can see various baddies and characters have a fresh original look that encourages us to see more detailed 2D games like it, they are cartoony, silly but also beautiful.

Of course, the game is also very funny. The dialogue reminds me of Banjo-Kazooie's ramble-grambling. Each character including the enemies got its very own personality and it is obvious they are as well stereotypically british.



One of the only complains i have is that you do not have freedom on replaying earlier bosses. I enjoy boss battles for testing my quirk and dexterity detecting their moves.

On an extra note, the music is absolutely brilliant. The composition and style is reflected perfectly with the atmosphere of the background and battle. Sometimes it will feel repetitive but you will rarely get tired of it.

Now going to remark my initial statement in the title, why is it so important?

Well, for me it represents something beyond just a damn good title, it represents the beginning of many things to come. Could you believe this was developed in the same studio as Madden 10? It means big things that EA puts their logo everywhere in this game. I mean, EA? Seriously? The once most greedy game company that ever existed? It is just splendorous.For now the developers are independent and own the franchise by themselves, but we could see much more in the future.

It is also one of the hardest platformers I have played in a while, so I dare to say that Mario has found a new worthy rival since Sonic and Crash Bandicoot. yes I said it, I fucking challenged Mario with this game.



Let's be clear in something. Henry is an adventurer (and one with class), he is ready to get through any dense jungle, gloom cavern or abandoned ruins. He is a timeless character that could fi in any environment possible and simply just adding some additional old-timey characters to it. In fact, there were several characters that didn't make the cut, so a sequel could not be impossible with all the character variation left.

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is a challenge, a journey, an adventure, and it deserves way much more spotlight. It is something fresh and ready for a new generation of fans and possibly spread along with a new saga of adventures.

If you are hungry for a good challenge and love the games from before this is not a two-thinker, go and buy it, BUY IT! I swear you will get addicted to its difficulty depending on your masochism.

For all that, the game is a good show!

Oh! And don't forget to download the official soundtrack from their website! It seriously sounds much more detailed and crisp than in your portable game system.