You’d think with a title like that, this game would have some kind of rich, involving story, but it really doesn’t.  At least not in the game anyway.  The character you play as holds a walking stick and looks like a cross between that thing you play as in Bit.Trip Runner and BMO from Adventure Time.  You view the playfield in an isometric perspective and each level is like a little diorama.  Kind of reminds me of Captain Toad or those isometric adventure games you would see a lot on British computers in the 80s (or like Solstice on the NES).  Your goal is to get your little dude to the exit block in each area, and the game is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

To make your guy move, you’ll point a cursor at the screen and if you click on a spot he can reach, he’ll walk there.  There are also sliding blocks and if you highlight those and hold down a button, you can slide them around, usually making a path for your character to ride on or across.  The challenge comes from figuring out how to get to the exit using visual and spatial skills, as many paths take you from one side of the level to another and you might not always see exactly where to go.  You’ll finish the level when you make your character stand on the exit block.

I had a few problems with this game.  One is that I wish you could control the character directly, as the point and click nature makes it feel more slow and plodding.  But I guess that would make it hard to control when you can’t always see the path you take.  You can rotate the levels in four directions, but I also wish you could move the camera up and see what the level looks like from a higher angle.  And the game doesn’t give you any instructions on how to play, I just had to stumble upon the controls by pressing buttons randomly.  Because of all this, I lost interest in this one pretty quickly.  I’d rather just play Captain Toad.

Kid Factor:

O.W.L Projekt is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  Although I didn’t notice anything violent when I played.  Reading skill isn’t needed to play, but younger gamers may need help figuring out the controls and puzzles.

Tags: Game Reviews