Done Playing: P.B. Winterbottom Demo (XBLA)

I didn’t unceremoniously delete the trial of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom because of its presentation. The game hits the silent picture/mustachioed adventurer note without missing a beat. It’s got the film grain effect, selective color that makes even the most subtle pies pop out and fittingly styled music.

No, what killed it for me was the gameplay. I was flabergasted when I first saw the tech demo of the game… around 2004. What looked like migraine-inducing, time-warping gameplay that would surely never be rivaled has since been tweaked and iterated on almost endlessly. While The Odd Gentlemen continued working on P.B. Winterbottom’s good looks I played so many Flash games and Indie titles that pretty much did the same things as to be more than a little burnt out by 2010. I just don’t think there’s much more for me to get out of manipulating clones of myself, tweaking time, and trying to outsmart clocks; the timed switch stuff is especially annoying.

This isn’t a slam directed solely at P.B. Winterbottom, I was just as passé on Cloning Clyde, Time Donkey and many others. If you have no idea what those other games are then I’d definitely say start with good sir Winterbottom and if you’re still hungry for more, work your way back. It’s a good game, I’m just gonna hold out for more 3D titles that tweak the space/time like Blinx, oh, and I guess Prince of Persia too.