Puzzle Agent marks a pleasant change of pace for Telltale Games, which has done the vast majority of the heavy lifting responsible for the point-and-click adventure game revival.
Puzzle Agent
For: iPad. Also available for: iPhone/iPod Touch, Windows PC, Macintosh
From: Telltale Games
iTunes store rating: 12+ (infrequent/mild horror/fear themes, infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco, drug use or references to these, infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence)
The overt humour of those other games is replaced here by a more low-key (but still funny) style that, along with the colour pencil-and-charcoals artwork style, is based on cartoonist Graham Annable's comics and animated shorts.
More importantly, though, Agent isn't really a point-and-click adventure in the traditional sense.
Players still tap on parts of the environment to help Detective Nelson Tethers navigate around the sleepy town of Scoggins, but the real action takes place through a series of brain-teasers that, when solved, provide clues towards unraveling the greater mystery at hand.
Agent's riddles run the gamut, from deductions of logic to visual challenges straight out of a book of brain-teasers, and fans of Nintendo's sterling Professor Layton games will appreciate a similar level of variety and craftsmanship (and, for those who need it, helpful hints) on display here.
The amount of content here isn't as bountiful as it is in those Layton games, but the friendly price reflects that, and it's a small tax to pay for a game that adds a distinctive energy to a genre that's never looked healthier or more inviting.
