The Book of Unwritten Tales

"A humorous vibe and quirky, competent puzzles."

Developer: KING Art
Publisher: Lace Mamba Global
Release Date: October 28, 2011
Platform(s): PC
Genre: Point and Click, Adventure
 

Tally ho and toodlepip and more of that old-timey nonsense, ye avid reader of previews. If old-fashioned style and games be your fancy, then The Book of Unwritten Tales offers a point and click adventure of that nature, in a completely new package.  Across many chapters and with 4 different playable characters, this humorous fantasy tale will want to tease players’ brains, while at the same time crack some wise.

 

You're a wizard, Harry! Oh sorry, wrong fantasy book.

 

In a colorful, full environment, the whimsical nature of the game is well represented in its visuals. Cartoony or cute landscapes, characters and doodads get splashed with some equally bright color effects, making quite the impressive game world for a point and click. But while this is also properly outlined in the fantasy setting of gnomes, magic and the likes, the audio department of the game is a bit more lacking. In particular, one of the key aspects of an adventure game, being the dialogue, is dreadfully voiced and boring to the point of sleep. In addition, the characters will attempt to break the fourth wall here and there by offering a strange monologue towards the player, but will only half succeed in pulling it off.

In case it wasn’t apparent yet, the game uses a heavy dose of humor and makes constant references to other genres and games and the likes. These are the only times that the game can successfully entertain through speech, as it’s easy to get a kick out of culture references. A clever jab at online communities and their exaggerated quarrels with game developers must’ve been a pleasure to program and this comes off well.  These are the points one should look for in this game; all other dialogue can be skipped, even though some will require waiting endlessly for animations to unfold. Even when just initiating any action, characters and their target need to be exactly where their programmed animation takes place, which can be annoying.

 

Whatever this is; it's weird.

 

Luckily, there won’t be a lot of that, other than the main character having to move towards an object. Once there, the hero of choice can observe an object for information or interact with it or manipulate it. Naturally, some can be picked up and later combined with others in order to solve one of the many puzzles in the game. By pressing a button, a prompt for all manageable areas can appear, saving some time on sleuthing around for objects. Additionally, the game also tries to give certain hints when gathering information, so as to ease lesser adequate puzzlers in. Other enigmas will also need to be solved through the art of conversation, which is somewhat a downer given its lacking appeal, but at least it offers a change of pace.

The puzzles themselves vary greatly in skill level required. This gives lesser experienced players a way to gradually sneak their way in. Though, in general, progression will need to take place in a linear fashion. Still, there’s wiggle room between the intricate multi-layered problems in reaching the overarching goal and the small issues requiring just one step.

 

Slap your thighs, kids, they're talking about weed. Now that's cool! (may be slight sarcasm)

 

As it’s looking right now, The Book of Unwritten Tales will certainly attain an audience, with a humorous vibe and quirky, competent puzzles. The sloppy audio design aside, the game’s fantasy setting and colorful nature are enough to keep players entertained throughout what appears to be a lengthy ordeal. Fans of point and click adventures can once again start lining up and pinching their cheeks as this title comes out on October 28 for the PC. In the meantime, ye can do a merry jig!

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Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)