As you walk, the path behind you is torn apart.

So, I am not very familiar with this genre but I must say I was totally dazzled by the meticulously planned levels, the well hidden treasure and the amazing visuals Hamilton’s Great Adventure has to offer - it was as a really good break from all the RPG and sandbox games that I have been playing for years and years.

Hamilton’s Great Adventure is a puzzle/adventure game. The main goal is to reach the final door each level has. The game is split into areas and each area contains a certain number of levels. You control Hamilton using the wasd keys and there is no real trick to it – each level has tiles and he moves from one to another. Each level contains numerous treasures (e.g. silver coins, gold coins, diamonds, etc) but your main concern is to get a certain key – this key will open the final door.  The game starts really easy, with obvious routes but as you advance, getting all the treasure scattered and the special key can be quite tricky. To harden your task there are traps and special tiles. Some tiles fall after you pass through them, some tiles are blocked and you need to press a certain switch, while others have traps like boulders falling or piranhas jumping and in most of the cases the combination between all or some of the above.

So far, it seems like any other puzzle/adventure game right? Well it isn’t. What makes it unique and tries to avoid the cliché is your companion – a bird called Sasha. Controlled by the mouse, Sasha is used to press switches you can’t reach and distract foes that are after you. Sasha can’t collect treasures but can collect other random stuff scattered through the level. Now, sometimes, or at least many times, you require the combination of Sasha and Hamilton. I suppose some levels were meant to be played with a friend because it’s just impossible to control both Sasha and Hamilton at the same time and you simply need to. There are no checkpoints – if you screw up you need to restart all over again. As if planning each move carefully and still most of the times not get all the treasure or not get the special key or most of the times simply loose isn’t enough, you must also have a Speedy Gonzales inside of you to press the wasd keys to move Hamilton while using the mouse to, for example, have Sasha press a switch or two…or four. Hear me when I say, Hamilton’s Great Adventure is a really hard game and requires major dedication as well as a huge amount of patience.

You may think there is no real story behind Hamilton’s Great Adventure but you’re wrong. It’s actually pretty decent for this genre. Hamilton tells his little granddaughter about his great discoveries, partnered with a great inventor. They came up with a great invention but before they could put it to use, a special key was stolen by an unknown agent. Hamilton’s task was to track him down.

In terms of sound and voice acting (well there isn’t any voice acting, characters only make some “grows” and “laughs”..) but the sound effects are pretty nice and background music fits the environment pretty well and not having voice acting isn’t a flaw at all, still it wouldn’t have killed to have it there.

The visuals are pretty amazing for a puzzle/adventure game and each level is pretty detailed – whoever was behind the visual production did an excellent job and it’s another «pro» that makes Hamilton’s Great Adventure standout.

Hamilton’s Great Adventure is a pretty decent game, despite a little hard, that successfully escapes the cliché and delivers a very pleasant, enrolling and reach experience to fans of the genre out there and is a very nice introduction to a newbie like me. I consider Hamilton’s Great Adventure to be great.

Gameplay: It’s impossible to complete this game without a friend, but it’s simply amazing.

Sound: Voice acting would have been nice but sound effects are amazing.

Story: Just adequate – nothing special, nothing awful.

Visuals: Just brilliant.

Price: A bargain! Currently around 10€ at GamersGate.

Replay Value: You will come back to each level to get all the treasure. Extra unlock able levels are also available. Good.

I wonder wheres the switch to unblock that path...