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Fantastic story
Occasionally unclear instructions
Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard scoring criteria. This review is based on the PC version of the game.
Agent Tethers here.
Recently, a game featuring one of my adventures was released for various game consoles– including the Nintendo Wii. While it may be unnerving to see my adventure chronicled in this way, I was glad to see that my adventure came across with only a few minor issues.
In case you don’t know, I work for the F.B.I. in the Department of Puzzle Investigation. When an enigma crops up, I am the first line of reasoning consulted for the job. Crossword puzzles, puzzle balls, Rubik’s cubes, even the occasional Sudoku puzzles: I’ve seen them all. However, the subject of this story is my trip to Scoggins, Minnesota to investigate the mysterious closing of the eraser factory there, since it’s the very location where the White House’s supply of erasers comes from. Of course, the story is not from my official report, but is instead a reasonable facsimile produced by Mr. Graham Annable, who you may know from doing the Grickle series on YouTube. I must say that Mr. Annable captured the people very well, from the Scandinavian heritage displayed by many of the Scoggins residents to the down-to-earth demeanor of others. It is an excellent retelling of my story.
I was, however, disappointed by one thing in the game. While most of the puzzles were clear-cut, I noticed that a few– very few– had instructions that did not make sense. In particular, a conundrum very early on involving a room number written in a strange code stumped me even after using all the clues available. Thankfully, this was an infrequent problem, and aside from those few difficult puzzles, the rest were intuitive for any prospective Puzzle Agent to handle. When the puzzles were difficult, the game had a clever hint system implemented: chewing gum, which is always an effective means to gain concentration, would elucidate certain steps to completing the puzzles. Unfortunately, Scoggins’s supply of gum was lacking, having not received a shipment in awhile, but thankfully, it would appear that there was ample gum left about the area to chew.
Of course, top agents won’t need to use hints and will see the solutions instantly. The game rates agents on how well they perform in these puzzles. Each attempt to solve costs the taxpayers money, and a top agent will conserve F.B.I. resources by thinking things through until the solution is apparent. There is no need to worry about the time limit when confronted by an enigma.
On the subject of time, my trip to Scoggins, while harrowing, was incredibly brief. Reliving the experience took fewer than four hours when all was said and done.There were a lot of puzzles to be solved, of course, and I’m sure that not all agents will be at my caliber of performance. For the price that Telltale Games is charging– a paltry $10– I would call it a good deal, but I do hope that Telltale and Mr. Annable are able to tell some of my other stories as this really is only the beginning of my adventure, and I’m sure that those who play the game will be left with questions afterwards.
In summation: Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent is a good game. While not perfect, I think that any puzzle agent like myself will find enjoyment, even if the experience is brief. I would not recommend it for those who are not fans of solving puzzle upon puzzle.
Agent Tethers, out.
