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My First 10 Minutes with P.B. Winterbottom

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Mischief! Mayhem! Pie!

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom , released February 17 on Xbox LIVE Arcade, was a surprise for me right from the initial downloading of the game. From 2K Play and developer The Odd Gentlemen, it’s a puzzle platformer with a comic silent film motif that allows you to clone the main character by making a recording of him and then use those clones to gather all the delicious pies in any one level. Oh, and it’s all in black and white.

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Of course, most reviewers end up comparing it to Braid, the acclaimed time-based puzzle platformer designed by Jonathan Blow, and the two games do have close similarities, especially with the multiple instances of the character being used to solve puzzles. But Winterbottom has a much goofier and light-hearted style, from the silly insert story cards shown between each level, to the mechanics of having a whole bunch of Winterbottoms on screen jumping around, landing on top of catapults sending another Winterbottom into the air for pie, and so on.

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I checked out the very simple How To Play section, started a game, and boom, was completely engrossed in a bizarreness that was great fun and sometimes a bit tricky. The game’s first set of levels, Savory Salutations, serves as its own clever tutorial so by the time you’re done with it, you’ll have completed the level set, gained two achievements, and accessed the theater area. From here, you can choose the next level set, go back and play previous levels, or take on the bonus shorts challenges. These are time and recording challenges where you must complete an area under a certain goal time, or by using less than a certain number of clones. And let me tell you, they’re pretty fiendish. (In fact, I’m still trying to figure out how to beat the first time challenge, getting all the pies in under 50 seconds. If you have solutions, let me know in the comments. And yes, I know, I’m terrible.)

Get The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom from Xbox LIVE Marketplace now!

If your mind can grasp puzzles where you have to record yourself performing an action, so you can use that recording to keep doing the action while your character goes on to do something else, then this title, now available for only 800 MS Points, is perfect for you. It’s a charming family title with a devious puzzling twist.

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