Indie Review: Hoodwink

I’ve noticed of late that there is a revival amidst the indie scene that is a warm welcome in this retro-fusion period of gaming. Hoodwink, a new point-and-click adventure game, attempts to bring back the charm of a bygone era with great passion and gusto.

• Name: Hoodwink
• Genre: Point And Click, Indie
• Players: 1
• Multiplayer: None
• Platforms: Origin
• Developer: E-One Studio
• Publisher: E-One Studio
• Price: $14.99 (R124)
• Reviewed On: PC

The game’s story is described as ‘dystopian’ and the developers themselves say that:

In Hoodwink, players join the dysfunctional dystopian world of Global-01. In this post-epidemic megalopolis you play Michael Bezzle, a small-time thief trying to make good and win the girl of his dreams. The all-powerful corporation Unicorp has other ideas, however, and set against a retro-futuristic backdrop, you’ll have to deal with bureaucracy, ruthless lawmen, chocolate-loving cyborgs and a vicious killer plant before you settle with the girl.

The only interaction with the game world is through your mouse, and brings a fundamental grounding to this true to the bone point and click adventure game. The story is simple as described above. You are Michael Bezzle, con-man extraordinaire. You’re trying to propose to the girl of your dreams, but get caught up in corporate (Unicorp, which is the corporation that dominates society) intrigue, whilst dealing with a host of other problems that prop up.

Problem solving, puzzles and mystery are what adventure games do best, and Hoodwink doesn’t try to stretch or overreach with its story. It’s not as epic as say Resonance, but it’s well grounded and with a host of entertaining characters has a lot of charm. The game itself has an old detective story or noir feeling about it and this exudes through the narration of Michael Bezzle, the music which is amazing and the whole ambience of the game.

The ambience and atmosphere of Hoodwink is furthered by the use of cel-shaded visuals which brighten up the typical dreariness of dystopian settings, particularly in the industrial setting of Hoodwink’s main story arc. I really enjoy a game that breaks the mould from the hand drawn aesthetics one normally expects from indie games, and adventure games specifically. I was a bit apprehensive at first about the visuals, but they grew on me and fit the general tone and feeling of Hoodwink.

The only real issue I had with the game has been with the point and click implementation in-game which was somewhat buggy in certain areas of the game. For example in mini games, where you have to catch animated flowers which run across the screen and have to combat the delay when trying toy move your cursor over a flower. As such, trying to catch a flower can become a somewhat delicate operation as the controls become incredibly irritating.

The same can be said of other gameplay mechanisms such as changing your perspective and making Bezzle run across the screen. The controls in regard to those most simple of manuveurs feel clunky in a game which flows through its story and characters. This can make the experience at times a bit irritating. But these flaws don’t mar the overall experience in Hoodwink.

Name: Adam Meikle
Location: Durban
Position: Editor, Indie

Adam has published 177 posts. Read all of Adam's posts.

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