We find ourselves reviewing yet another puzzle game called Hamlet. The game consists of a series of screens where you simply have to think logically and find out the solution to your current problem by tapping various objects. The main character is nicely placed in the story and humor will keep you entertained at every pace. The game is not that challenging in terms of complexity so even younger players may find it interesting. All in all, you will get a couple of hours of enjoyment but not more than an afternoon of total gameplay. Yes, it is somewhat short.
The story
The entire game seems pretty well designed, with all the needed elements (story, graphics, gameplay, sounds) fitting well together. The story is quite funny: your character is a man from the future who happens to travel back in time and land his ship on Hamlet. Unfortunately for the space-fabric-space-continuum-thingy Hamlet was on a very important mission to rescue his beloved Ophelia who was kidnapped. Now it is up to you to do that and make sure the future remains safe. So yeah, Hamlet dies even before the game begins. Poor Hamlet.
Gameplay
The game is not really challenging. Most of the screens (puzzles) are fairly obvious. If you get stuck you can still access a hint. The puzzles themselves do differ quite a lot: there are some where timing is everything, there are some where attention to detail is important (identify where you are located within a crowd of people) and some where you just have to find the correct item. All the action takes place in different areas that fit completely inside the screen (no scrolling needed). There is no way to die so pretty much all you can do is go forward. Even the boss battles are not boss battles per se: there is no additional difficulty added. And to make things even more simple there is no inventory available.
There is one little problem we did find. Although the game keeps your progress and will resume if you turn off your phone, it simply advances straight. There is no way to return to an existing level. Once the game is completed it just resets all the progress so you can start from the beginning. You are unable to create additional profiles so if you plan to share the game with your friends on the same phone this will not work.
Graphics
Most animations are simple but go well with the rest of the game’s style. No 3D graphics if that’s what you are asking. The areas are designed pretty good and you can see the attention to detail.
One little gotcha that might be useful is the zoom ability which is not that important but might help you with the details. Simply pinch to zoom in on any screen.
Conclusion
Hamlet is a great puzzle game. Notice that we added an asterisk on the free price in the summary. You can download the game for free, but it is extremely short (only the first act). So it is more close to a demo then a complete game. You will have access to the rest if you make an in app purchase of $0.99. But it is worth it in out opinion.
Summary
| QR Code |
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| Reviewed Version | 1.1 |
| Device used for testing | HTC Nexus One |
| Price | Free* |
| Size | 112 MB |
| Advertising | No |
| Developer | Alawar Entertainment, Inc. |
Other resources
If there is something we missed or you would like other opinions about this app, be sure to check out some of the links below.
- review on the iOS version of Hamlet, on Pocket Gamer
- you can also download a Windows version of the game at Alawar’s website
- Hamlet trailer on YouTube