PC Gamer - October 2011

This would be a good puzzle, except for the mandatory failure animation every time you try a solution.

RIDDLED

It short-circuits my brain.

I’m still going to plead ignorance.

Expect to find a few pieces missing in PUZZLE AGENT 2 by Richard Cobbett

What is it? Light-hearted puzzles and mysteries based on Graham Annable’s Grickle cartoons ( www.youtube.com/grickle) Influenced by Puzzle Agent, Fargo Play it on 2.4GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics Alternatively Puzzle Agent (74%) Copy protection Steam/Online activation

Need to know

Before you can start reading, take this quick test: Question 1: what is the next number in this sequence: 1, 2, 3, 4...? If you answered “ 5,” keep reading. If you answered “ 5” in an incredulous, even insulted voice, I’m sorry, but you’re overqualified for Puzzle Agent 2.

The original Puzzle Agent is made up of a basic, mostly uninspired set of puzzles linked by a quirky Professor-Layton-Visits-Twin-Peaks plot. It wasn’t amazing, but it was fine for what it was—Telltale dipping a toe into the water and seeing if anyone bit. We’re in sequel territory now though, and things haven’t improved one iota.

Not only does Puzzle Agent 2 fall
back almost immediately onto
generic sequence breaking, Sokoban
puzzles, and similar Christmas
cracker stuff—up to and including
the tedious old get-the-animals-
across-the-stream-without-them-
eating-each-other yawner—most
are so easy that the part that slows
you down is not believing that the
solution really is that simple.

Take the hint

A few challenges do add a spark to things, but they’re the rare exceptions in a game that honestly feels like someone went on Amazon, bought a copy of “101 Fun Puzzles For Kidz,” and squiggled a few cartoon characters on top.

If you do get stuck, you’re never
more than a click away from a hint
(or less, if you have a pet cat around
to point out what you missed). The
most common reason you’ll find
yourself giving in, though, is when
the instructions just aren’t clear. As
with the first game, the rules for
each puzzle are on a separate screen
from the puzzle itself, and they’re
not always phrased well. In addition,
there are several where you’ll want
to experiment with solutions and
mechanics a little, but you have to sit
through a long, unskippable “YOU
HAVE FAILED” sequence every
damn time.