"Hatsworth presents some English charm with some old-school difficulty."

Henry Hatsworth in the puzzling adventure is an unusual little game. "Unique" some would say. It is in fact a hybrid game, combing two different games into one. You see, the top screen features the distinguished elderly gentleman Henry Hatsworth as he navigates his way through your standard platforming game. However, as you play, the bottom screen will fill up with colored blocks, which you will have to arrange into a puzzle. So now that you know what this game is, here's the big question: is it any good?


The story of course features the titular Henry Hatsworth, who is searching for a legendary suit made out of gold that only gentlemen can wear. This suit lets you control the "puzzle realm", and will make the wearer rich, but Henry must find the hidden suit pieces first! He also has a young shop-hand named Cole to help him out, but must compete with the nefarious Weasleby who is also out to collect the suit. As you can see the story is pretty weak, being in place merely to drive the action onwards. You'll meet a few unique characters on your quest to collect the suit, but with the exception of a single character, everyone fits into your typical, one-dimensional roles.


The "main" game is you typical platforming fare, as Henry will push forwards on the top screen trying to get to the big treasure chests awaiting him at the end of each level, but as you play the puzzle section on the lower screen will continuously rise. Also, each time Henry kills an enemy in the top screen, it will go "poof!" and it's face will appear in the bottom screen as a block in the puzzle. You'll then have to hit "X" to switch to the puzzle mode. Down there you will control a cursor which swaps two horizontal blocks. Using this, you have to line up three blocks of the same colors to get rid of them, and since the enemies you defeat in the upper screen appear down here, the only real way to kill them is to make them disappear in the puzzle section. If you don't get rid of them, the puzzle will eventually rise and the block will appear in the top screen and try to hurt you. As you can see, the puzzle meter is pretty simple, but different enemies will turn into different blocks. You can also gain special rewards or life from random items that appear in the puzzle as well.

By completing the puzzle, you will fill up the puzzle meter. Getting it full once will turn Henry into a younger man and he'll change into safari gear and attack with a sword instead of his cane (you'll also have more health). Getting it all the way full will let you activate "Tea Time", where Henry has a spot o' tea and then is in control of a giant robot, which is super powerful but drains your puzzle meter. The robot also doesn't take damage, but if it gets hit the puzzle meter takes the hit. I should also note that the treasures Henry acquires aren't just for show: you can use them to upgrade your abilities

The game play is actually pretty decent. Granted, the puzzle is fairly simple and constantly interrupts the "main game" on the top screen by making you take care of the puzzle every now and again, but the platforming is pretty decent. Henry is very proficient at slicing enemies up and can also use three different types of ranged weapons (like bombs or bullets). Each new suit piece you pick up also gives you special abilities, like being able to jump up walls and dash (turning Henry into a Zero from Megaman). HOWEVER! The most important thing I can stress about this game is that as you progress in in (and get to worlds 4 and 5), the game takes a SERIOUS difficulty spike. The platforming will require you to do everything perfectly, because if you don't a single hit from an enemy can make you fall to your death (resulting in a lot of cheap deaths, to be honest). The bosses get super hard as well, requiring you to be in the right spot at the right time to avoid damage (or instant death), similar to games like Neo Contra and Gunstar Heroes. This difficulty spike will undoubtedly throw off many players, but it's a good challenge as well. Just know what you're getting into before you jump in and don't say I didn't warn you!


The graphics in the game are fairly simple and do their job well. Character animations and designs are well done. Enemy animations are cute and often telegraph when an enemy is about to attack, but the developer does pull the old "palette swap" trick to come up with new enemies. The robot and boss special attacks are also often very flashy. The music in the game is fairly standard; I especially liked the Mozart piece that plays when you get into the robot. However, the nonsense noises the characters make when they are "talking" is just pure annoying.

The game lets you go back and replay any level, which you can do to gain more money and buy more upgrades as well as getting more lives (which are represented by bowler hats). Also, once you beat the game you can do a harder mode called "gentleman's mode". That's about it when it comes to re-playability.


Overall: 6/10

Overall, despite being fairly unique Henry will have a limited appeal to the masses. The punishing and often cheap difficulty near the end will frustrate all but the most patient (or talented) gamers, the graphics and music each have flaws (with the palette swaps and annoying voices) and the story is rubbish. However the game is decent with tight controls and abilities straight from Megaman. If you're looking for a challenge, go ahead and give Hatsworth a try. Everyone else should probably pass though. Have fun and keep playing.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/11

Game Release: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (US, 03/17/09)