CHUCHEL 9+

Previous games from Amanita (Botanicula, Machinarium) have been whimsical point-and-click adventures with wonderful artwork and characters, cleverly designed to delight young and old audiences (I played both with my children and we all thoroughly enjoyed them). Chuchel, while still displaying the trademark Amanita design touches, is really just a pastiche puzzler with occasional homages to familiar games of the distant and not-so-sistant past. A few of the puzzles are good, a few not so good. But some of the magic seems to be missing here — the humor and tone of the game is far more in-your-face than the earlier games, more slapstick and more strained. The result is an odd combination of humor that appeals only to younger audiences but game play that probably does not (and vice-versa). Perhaps Amanita are a victim of setting the bar so very high on their prior games, but I just found the characters too loud, the animations too rushed, and the gameplay too linear.

very straightforward with very simple tasks. Super boring with little interaction between objects and characters. Sounds and picture are pleasing, but everything else is a waste of 9.99.

I love the animations by Amanita in all their games. This one, while being more simplistic than their other games, was fun to figure out the challenges on each page. I believe change is good, and this game is a change from the other ones, while still being very similar. It kind of reminded me of Coco Loco for the PSP. I’m not a kid and I did not get bored playing. I buy games to be entertained and challenged, and this one is both.