Puzzle Agent, the latest offering from Telltale Games, publishers of Sam and Max and The Tales of Monkey Island, starts off like a children’s game but at times becomes much more. With a sense of eeriness not normally found in puzzlers of this type, Puzzle Agent is a mix of challenges ranging from simple to extreme that is at times hampered by slow gameplay and quirky controls.

The first task after a comic-like cinematic opening is to repair a torn up newspaper, much like a jigsaw puzzle.  The controls are reminiscent of a PC game as opposed to a traditional console offering.  Using the analog or D-pad to scroll through which piece to grab, you hold X to drag and drop the pieces next to each other.  This reveals the secret message “Scoggins” and voila, your first puzzle is solved.

Playing as FBI Agent Tethers, your goal is to figure out the torn up message on the newspaper in as little time as possible, using hints and avoiding wrong answers for a possible 10 star score.  The experience is movie like with a suspenseful feeling.  However the game play seems VERY limited.  The first movement piece includes talking to an old man in the town of Scoggin although all you do is press the X-button.  The next puzzle seems simple enough... escorting Tethers to the hotel on the icy road by bumping him off logs.  It’s made frustrating, however, by the fact you’re provided no clue of how to start or which direction he will drive.  You have to learn the trajectory by making a few mistakes before it finally makes sense.

The game in its entirety is much like watching the action, while you just decide on questioning topics to ask the townsman to gather clues and then moving on to figure out a puzzle.  Your next task is within a hotel, still carried out solely by investigating through clicking.  You can explore rooms, talk to guests, gather hints, or solve puzzles; all performed by scrolling over the desire icon to perform actions. Some puzzles definitely prove themselves more difficult while others tend to be more on the frustrating side. 

After playing for a while, I began to wonder whether this game is for 5 year olds with the simplest of puzzles, or advanced scholars with the more difficult ones.  With many of the puzzles, there is a severe lack of directions as to just what you are solving for.  The game plays much like a digital version of “Clue” as well as “Guess Who”; some of the puzzles are narrowing down suspects solely on their statements, or figuring out the time of an explosion from scarce statements.  Other puzzles reveal themselves if you make sure to not over think them.  You will have Tethers chewing a lot of ABC gum as it reveals hints for the puzzles.

While the storyline is pure puzzle and mysteries, there is a sense of awkwardness between Agent Tethers and the townspeople providing welcome amusement while solving puzzles.  The graphics are rather cartoon-like as if not much effort was put into them, looking as though they were drawn with pencils or made in Microsoft Paint. This could be an intentional design element as they are enjoyable to look at though possibly targeted too much towards kids for adults to be able to enjoy. 

The controls are often very quirky and frustrating at times. At times, I experienced difficulties trying to select which person to talk to or place a certain puzzle piece.  The sometimes invisible cursor even veers off course from time to time, adding to the frustration level.

In summary, the game play itself is slow and boring.  There is not much moving involved.  Gameplay consists of talking to people, gathering info and solving puzzles and mysteries based on their stories. Not too much work involved besides these elements. If that’s what you’re looking for though, Puzzle Agent may be just the ticket as a simpler diversion from Dead Space 2 or as a game you can feel comfortable placing your kid in front of. 

Overall this game is a stable, problem solving offering.  It stretches the mind and forces you to think out of the box in order to figure puzzles and challenges out with the provided clues.  People who enjoy puzzles will enjoy this game, as well as children ages 10 and up. The exact audience is unclear but there is definitely something for everyone.  You’ll need to be prepared for controls that don’t always do what you please and some puzzles that will frustrate you. But a good puzzler will always have moments where you want to send the controller through the TV at a high velocity in aggravation. But would you really want a puzzler that was a cake walk?