Review: Puzzle Bots

Our brave heroes and their inventors.

For our first review we have a fun little game called Puzzle Bots. Puzzle Bots is a 2010 adventure game from developer Wadjet Eye Games. (Trust me, you will see more of their works reviewed here in the near future.) The story is simple: Dr. Hugo has a robot factory with “nearly five inventors” designing robots for domestic use. The game follows the robots as they go on adventures in the factory when their inventors aren't looking. As they go about, unintentionally causing mischief, they also stumble across a mystery that the factory holds. What secret does the factory hold? And how much does Dr. Hugo know about it?

Puzzle Bots is very obviously aimed at a younger audience. You can tell from the art style, the cute little robot protagonists, and the simplicity of the puzzles. Which is great, really. Kids need more high-quality, kid-friendly games these days. But don't let this make you think that the game is for kids only. I would put it solidly in the “family friendly” category of video games, since adults can enjoy this game just as much as kids can. The visuals are bright and cheery, the scientists are as zany and likable a bunch as you'd see in any sitcom, the robots are cute and endearing, and Dr. Hugo is just plain crazy. Seriously, you would have to be an incredibly jaded person not to fall in love with the robots and with this game in general.

One thing you should know is that the game is also VERY short. My wife and I played through it together and finished in less than two hours. We enjoyed every minute of it, but we were a little disappointed that there weren't more minutes to enjoy. As I mentioned earlier, the puzzles are pretty simple and adults won't have much trouble with them. Despite this, I wouldn't say that this is a strike against the game, since it's only five dollars to buy. The game is fun and funny enough that I'd call it a bargain at that price. Plus, if you have kids or ever plan on having kids, you could consider this game an investment for when they're old enough to start playing on the computer. It's a clean, safe, and fun game that can help them develop their critical thinking skills.

Bottom Line:

Frankly, unless you are unemployed and broke (unfortunately, not that unlikely given the current economy) you have no excuse to not go out and buy Puzzle Bots right now.