Nukezilla Review: Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent (PC)

Telltale Games, in the eyes of many gamers, can do no wrong. Over the past couple of years the company has come out with some of the best game revivals in the business. The Sam and Max episodic series has been a blast, much like the Monkey Island series. On top of that, Telltale is apparently making titles out of Back to The Future and Jurassic Park. That should help their stock rise even more within the gaming populace. So will their newest title, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent.

Breaking the mold of their previous games, Telltale goes away from the point-and-clicks we’ve grown to love and takes a page out of, oddly enough, Professor Layton’s handbook. In Puzzle Agent you play Nelson Tethers, the top agent at the FBI’s Office of Puzzle Investigations. After being startled in your sleep by some sort of astronaut, you’re tasked with visiting Scoggins, Minnesota. Scoggins is the home of Scoggins Erasers, the company that provides all erasers for the White House. Since the factory has mysteriously closed, leaving the West Wing eraser-less, you’re tasked with opening the plant back up.

The Professor Layton influences are apparent right from the start. The townspeople of Scoggins are obsessed with puzzles. To get through many conversations, you have to help out these people with their puzzles. That means figuring out how birds can properly carry packages (a la Monty Python’s Holy Grail), or how to arrange food neatly on a plate. Also some sections of the game involve guiding Agent Tethers through puzzles to reach new locations. On top of that, Agent Tethers chews gum to help him think. With a strange gum shortage in Scoggins, Nelson must find any and all ABC (already been chewed) gum he sees lying around. This gum can be used to give tips during puzzles (exactly like the coins from Prof. Layton).

That’s where the similarities between Layton and Tethers split. The story of this game is rather twisted and strange. As can be expected from an icy, secluded town, Twin Peaks-style shenanigans abound, with unresponsive law enforcement, strange cults, and people who refuse to talk. There’s also a narrative strain involving gnomes, (possibly) outer space, and peril around every corner. This is the game’s strong point, up until the very abrupt ending. For the sake of spoilers, I can’t get into my disdain with the ending, but take it from me: it’s bad. Like “The Sopranos finale” bad. Thankfully, Telltale has said in the past that this is just the “pilot” episode of the Puzzle Agent series. If that’s true, I can forgive the ending a little, and look forward to where this story will go.

Puzzles, the meat of the game, are nicely complicated in Puzzle Agent. They run the gamut from jigsaw puzzles to math problems to programming inquiries. There just aren’t nearly enough of them (less than 40), and a handful of those puzzles are just harder versions of ones you’ve played earlier in the game. This lack of diversity does take a little out of the title, but the puzzles that are available are pretty fun to decipher. I can’t finish this review without talking about the amazing work of Graham Annable. He’s the artist for Puzzle Agent, and if this is any indication of his other work, the man’s a genius. A lot of his previous work is at play here (including his well-known Hidden People), and his love for his characters certainly shows here. The entire game looks like it was drawn in chalk, but has a simple beauty to it. The characters and scenery all have this unsettling charm to them that I really enjoy.

Puzzle Agent looks to be the start of yet another beautiful series for Telltale. Going away from the point-and-click titles they’ve become known for might seem risky. As it is, Telltale hasn’t announced a future for the PA series, until they see how the first episode does. There is a lot to pick on in this freshman episode, but what’s available has the potential to be incredible. I’m here to say that you, yes you, need to download this game. Not because of its gorgeous animation, or somewhat clever puzzles, or well-written dialogue (all of which are true). You should get Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent to keep this soon-to-be-amazing series going.