What happens when you combine a side-scrolling platform adventure with a puzzle game?

Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure

 Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure is a game that forces players to think a little bit differently about what it means to play a video game. That is, it actually makes players play two intertwined games at once.

The side-scrolling adventure portion resides on the top screen of the Nintendo DS and resembles most platformers like Super Mario Brothers or Ghosts ‘n Goblins. You control Henry Hatsworth, a treasure-hunting professor-type (complete with monocle), who seeks out some sort of legendary golden suit. Along the way, you run, jump, swing a sword, and shoot at enemies. You have extra lives (that are gained by picking up bowler hats, like the one Hatsworth wears) and your life bar is made of hearts. All very standard for a side-scrolling adventure.

On the bottom (touch) screen exists a Bejeweled-style puzzle game, where you have to slide blocks around to match the colors in rows or columns of 3, either using the directional pad or stylus. It’s a fairly simple puzzle game that could get old quickly if it weren’t for its direct effect on the action on the top screen.

As you knock off enemies from the top screen, they fall into the puzzle world and appear as colored blocks. The blocks all incrementally work their way to the top of the screen over time and if any of the enemy blocks make it to the top, they’ll pop out and potentially injure Hatsworth. So you have to eliminate them just like any other block. In addition, power-ups sometimes appear in the puzzle, allowing Hatsworth to gain life or have special abilities in the adventure world.

The good news is that you don’t work on both screens simultaneously. You switch between them with a button press, so you don’t have to worry about an enemy hurting you in the adventure world while you’re working on the puzzle. There is also a puzzle meter that only allows you to be in the puzzle world for a limited amount of time before returning you to the adventure world, so you don’t spend your entire time aimlessly eliminating blocks.

Now, after all that explanation… is the game actually fun? Yes and no. At first, I thought the concept was very inventive and had a lot of potential for making two great gaming genres even better. Unfortunately, neither the side-scrolling portion nor the puzzling portion are great games on their own. I’ve played through the entire first world of the game and found the side-scrolling portion to be extremely repetitive. The same enemies come out over and over (in increasing numbers) as you work through levels that all have the same rather dull look to them. Entering the second world was a nice change of scenery, but I suspect the same thing will happen as I traverse through all of its individual levels. The puzzle suffers from the same simplicity, offering very little variety.

However, the interaction between the two mediocre games is what really saves Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure. I do enjoy smashing enemies in the top screen for a while and then switching over and matching colored blocks for a while, knowing that my actions in both screens matter to my overall progression in the game.

As far as puzzle games for the Nintendo DS go, Professor Layton and the Curious Village has us spoiled with its unique and inventive puzzles. The fact that the lead character of Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure is a similar type of person to Professor Layton likely hurts this game, as it draws too many unneeded comparisons between the two. The games are really nothing alike.

In the end, I’m happy that I rented Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure instead of buying it and I will likely give up on it after a few more repetitive levels. It’s a great game to pick up and play a level or two, but don’t expect to be sucked in and playing for hours on end.