Review by: Neilie Johnson

Adventure games are seeing a new resurgence thanks to indie developers like Denis “mif2000” Galanin. First and foremost a cartoonist and animator, mif2000's cranked out numerous game titles over the years in every possible genre. Adventure is his strong point however, and while Hamlet, his latest adventure title, for the most part lives up to his usual gameplay standard, it falls short due to a short playing time and several confusing, click-heavy puzzles.

Hamlet, otherwise known as “The last game without MMORPG components, shader graphics and product placement”, is loosely (extremely loosely) based on the Shakespearean play of the same name, although it could have been based on pretty much anything. The story—such as it is—concerns a scientist who's sent back in time (to a fictional universe) where he's charged with saving Hamlet's ill-fated ladyfriend Ophelia from the villainous king Claudius. This narrative has little to do with anything however, and serves merely as a framework for the amusing, puzzle-centric gameplay.

Shakespeare fans will no doubt enjoy the game's references to Hamlet the stage play through boss fights against classic villains Polonius, Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Non-Shakespeare enthusiasts won't get these references but will still be entertained by the game's numerous settings and interesting puzzle types. The best thing about Hamlet's approach to puzzles is its variety. Blending memory games with mechanical puzzles and mixing these up with a little beat-matching, twitch clicking and word play, it's tough to get bored as things keep constantly changing. There's no question, the game features some of the cleverest puzzles seen in recent memory, although some of them are probably too clever for their own good—or ours.

Gameplay alternates between super-smart puzzles that slyly trick you into over-complicating what turn out to be simple, logical solutions and totally obscure puzzles that make your hand hurt from excessive amounts of clicking. The problem with the latter is that they just don't offer the player enough positive or negative feedback which results in endless amounts of random clicking as you try to make something—anything—happen. When clicked on, the characters offer up subtle hints and a very slow-charging hint button also offers some limited guidance, but several of the puzzles may prove too challenging for the casual gamer. There are also a couple of puzzles that require extremely fast clicking reflexes and these too may be too much for some folks. More than gameplay inconsistencies though, the biggest problem the game has is that even with the sometimes baffling puzzles, total play time is on average, an hour—at most, two—way too short for its $6.99-$9.95 asking price.

Hamlet is a fun, stylish looking game with a good variety of puzzle types and a fair level of challenge. While possibly too difficult for the average casual gamer, veteran puzzle masters will get it immediately and will enjoy it's unique brand of “trick” question-style gameplay and fans of the Bard will love its Renaissance references. That said, novices, veterans and Shakespeare nuts alike are bound to be disappointed in the game's lack of replayability and too-short play time. In the end, Hamlet represents a good diversion only if you have an hour to kill and seven bucks to burn.