Thoughtfully made but ultimately bland puzzle game

User Rating: 7 | Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery: Episode One - A Bump in the Night VITA

To describe this game, think this way:

* Game world and art style of Psychonauts

* Puzzles from Professor Layton

* Characters more like Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo

That sounds like a pretty dreamy game, and it's close to being great, but there's an overall blandness that made me not entirely sad to finish it.

The good:

  • Great-looking visuals that are very well animated, distinctive, coloful -- really good art design
  • All dialog is fully voiced, and generally well done (if not a bit cliche or corny)
  • Good use of the touchscreen and a little bit of the gyro -- subtle, effective
  • Fun and artfully designed game world

The not-so-good:

  • Puzzles are pretty hit-and-miss... nothing obscure, but nothing very unique or interesting
  • Dialog and storyline are cute, but not really funny or interesting... a little bland
  • Short -- this was supposed to be "Chapter 1"... not sure there's a Chapter 2 coming? Overall time was about 3-4 hours

Overall, it's a lovingly done game, but just didn't grab me like I'd hoped. But as a budget puzzle game, it's not bad.