At last, an Arcade title I can sink my teeth into. P.B. Winterbottom is a surprisingly fun title from Xbox LIVE Arcade newcomers the Odd Gentlemen. The games premise is a strange tale indeed with the titular character not so much a hero but a nefarious pie thief who thinks nothing of stealing pies wherever he can to satiate his voracious appetite. However there is a fun twist in that the villainous Mr Winterbottom gains the ability to alter time to a certain extent in order to clone himself in his quest to munch all the tasty pie he can get his gentlemanly mitts on.
The game is far from the standard puzzler that you tend to get these days and is a refreshing take on the time travel element that had been so poorly done in other games (Viewtiful Joe I’m looking at you). The game is not for the impatient and can in fact become infuriating for those who prefer to have a blastathon where they can rush through racking up the points as quickly as possible. However for those of you who like to take their time and give those grey cells a work out this game is perfection.
The actual design of the game is fantastically done with minimal colour used to give it an old movie feel and the sound consists of…well not much at all, the only sounds are the cheeky background music and the occasional jingle and the sound of a projector reel reversing as you play with the flow of time. Now most people would think this would be a downside but in this game it just works perfectly. Back to the graphics, the level design is smooth and the character himself is a bizarre little gentleman with the typical moustache and top hat that were the look of choice for the villains who graced the silver screen of the silent movie era. Everything about the look and feel of this game in fact screams of an earlier age where villains were villains and pie was plentiful in regards to villainy.
The controls are very easy to learn and this is a major plus in a game where everything needs precision and timing if you want to progress in anyway. The time bending element works very well with a set number of clones available to you in each level so you can’t just collect the pies in the easiest way you can think of. Actually I found that there are only possibly 2 ways of completing each scene which means you really do have to think about how you are going to grab those tasty pies without having to sit for about 3 hours on a single level tearing your hair out (trust me there are a couple of levels just like that).
Once you finish playing through the main game there is a challenge section to work your way through, this section is just as tricky as the main game but with multiple ways of reaching your goal. It’s going to take just a bit more thought to beat the scores and clone usage set by the game itself and more than that to beat the other players around the world who have been pumping those mental muscles in order to be the best pie thieves that they can be. Don’t worry though because with a bit of practice you to can be one of those people who others curse for getting all the pies in under 15 seconds on a level with a 30 second limit.
I feel a little bad about comparing this game to another but this feels like it could reach the popularity of ‘Splosion Man very quickly. Actually, I would hope that people give it enough of a chance so that it could become the best Arcade puzzler of 2010.
VideogameUK verdict: 9.5/10
Download The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom to your Xbox 360 here.
