The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

[Terraplane]

I tried the demo for this last week on XBLA and the art style hooked me right away. It's a puzzle game with a sort of Edward Gorey/old silent film look where your goal is to eat pie. I figured this sort of thing would be right up a Doper's alley and was surprised there wasn't a thread on it.

I typed up a long explanation but I think this trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AaCIe4d7Hs) might explain it better (gameplay at around 50 seconds), the blue tinted guys are clones that you create to help you get more pie. They will copy your actions at the time you create them and you can use them to push pressure plates, smack levers, or use as platforms. You can only have so many clones at a time so you have to figure out how best to use them to beat the level.

Some of the puzzles are uninspired and there were too many levels where the solution was way too obvious but the game is charming enough that even the easy levels are still fun. There are a few stages that really stumped me for a while, just not as many as I would have liked. It's no World of Goo but it was a fun 3 hours or so of gameplay.

Has anybody else tried this?

[psycat90]

I downloaded it a couple of weeks ago after messing with the trailer and liking it.

It's visually appealing to me, and definitely entertaining and fun enough, even if some of the levels are pretty easy.

I really enjoyed Braid, so I figured I'd like this one too, and so far, I do. I only got to play through a few levels though. My husband has been hogging the Xbox lately playing Fable II and Mass Effect. :-)

I was thinking of playing a bit tonight though, since I think he's got a Linux Users Group meeting or something or other to attend.

[Richard Pearse]

I downloaded the demo and really liked the art style, but then I realised it's a platformer type game, and they don't really interest me.

[Airk]

It's not really a platformer in any traditional sense - since it's not based on there being any dexterity type challenges. It's more like a time-based puzzler.

Sadly, I don't like time based puzzlers (didn't enjoy Braid, either) so in spite of the pretty art, I won't be picking this one up. (Played the demo, was amused, but felt no desire to continue.)

[Max Torque]

I've finished the first three levels, and the first three sets of challenges. Time's short lately, so it's going kinda slow.

Would you believe I've been waiting for this game for about a year? I saw a report on G4TV that showed it being entered at the Independent Games Festival back in 2008, and I dug the art and play concept. Since then, I've just been waiting for it to finally get distributed. Hope they get around to making more Winterbottom, or a level editor or something.

[Richard Pearse]

It's not really a platformer in any traditional sense - since it's not based on there being any dexterity type challenges. It's more like a time-based puzzler.
Ok, I probably have too broad a definition of platformer. It's the quest for little objects that are positioned around the screen that I don't really like. I didn't mind Braid but didn't get very far through it.