Hamilton’s Great Adventure is a causal adventure indie game brought to us by Fatshark. In this game you play as the explorer Ernest Hamilton who is traveling the world with his bird companion Sasha. Your goal is to get back the stolen Fluxatron which goes to Ernest’s and the professor’s machine, the Transmorphanizer.
In each level you must navigate through puzzles and traps to find your way to the exit. However to get to the exit you will have to collect, at the very least, the gold key which will opens the exit. With the wide variety of obstacles, you really do have to think out every step you take. The collapsing platforms were what always got me. Some platforms will only allow you to step on and off of them once before falling apart and other will let you to go across twice. You really need to think ahead or you very well might get stuck with no where to go. Then there are also doors that have to be opened either with a key or a switch. Some times with the switches it is very easy because you just have to send Sasha to go flip it. Other times they are pressure switches, which in some cases will close the door again if you go over it more than once.
There are also enemies to watch out for. There are the flying blowfish called Exocet which will shock Sasha if they get too close. They are easy to handle all you have to do is scare them and they will inflate and float away. There are jumping enemies that, depending on what part of the world you are in, will change. For example, in the Amazon Jungle there are jumping piranhas and then in the Himalaya there are jumping goats. If you get hit by them then you will have to restart the level.
The Sentinels are another enemy you have to look out and plan ahead for. They walk back and forth in a set path so they aren’t too hard to get around you just have to wait most of the time. The Agents are the most annoying enemy I thought because they hunt you down. At least with the help of Sasha you can distract them so you can get by or maybe even get them to walk off a ledge. Then lastly are the obstacles you come across like rolling boulders or dart guns; they aren’t too difficult to get around just make sure you time your steps.
Once you complete each of the first three areas a Guardian will give you a gadget that will help you get through the levels a little easier. First you get a spy glass that will show you part of the path you need to take to get to the end. Then you get speed boots which helps you run across those tricking spinning logs so that you don’t fall off. Lastly you get a mask, which disguises you to the enemy. However to use all your nice gadgets you must have mystic dust to power them. Mystic dust is every where though so don’t worry, all you have to do is have Sasha fly around in each level and collect the pink orbs.
Visually, the game looks very good. I was kind of expecting it to be more 2D and very cartoon looking but that wasn’t the case. There is a lot of use of depth which I like a lot. I’m seeing more and more games using layers and it definitely makes a game more interesting. The music was good as well. I very much liked how the music matched the area you were in and it kind of made you feel like you were there too. For example, in the Amazon Jungle it feels very tropical and up beat, where in the Himalaya it made it seem cold.
I did like this game but there are a few things that just didn’t quite work for me. There are times when I was telling Sasha where I wanted her to go and the camera would become very jerky; making it so that I couldn’t actually click where I wanted her to go because it keep going in and out of sight. Also it doesn’t seem like the Facebook and Twitter links that are in game work. Whenever I clicked on them the game screen would just go black and the internet page wouldn’t open.
Even with the few minor complaints I have on this game I would still recommend it. It’s a puzzle adventure game that will keep you on your toes and have you thinking hard about every step you take. You will also find yourself going back to levels and replaying them to get all the treasure in order to open up the bonus levels (which I think are the hardest of all the levels). Hamilton’s Great Adventure is a very enjoyable, comical, Indiana Jones like puzzle adventure game that will have you always thinking several moves ahead.
