{"id":4369,"date":"2010-04-22T14:32:35","date_gmt":"2010-04-22T20:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2010-04-22T14:32:35","modified_gmt":"2010-04-22T20:32:35","slug":"the-misadventures-of-p-b-winterbottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/22\/the-misadventures-of-p-b-winterbottom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Available on Xbox Live or in Windows. \u00a0I can’t believe I missed this game when it came out in early Feb. It just arrived for PC and I caught a commercial for it and – wow. Using German expressionalistic\/surrealism to create a loopy platformer is a great idea. It’s a black and white world, with grainy film-stock and the protagonist is the villainous PB Winterbottom. A scourge, a rogue and a stealer of yummy pies. I like yummy pies, I like clever puzzle games, I like 2D platforming games and I like silent movies that make me think of a cross between Metropolis, Buster Keaton and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PB is an old guy in a top hat. He can smack things with his umbrella, he can jump and he can use his rainy day aid to help him float gently, saving him from falls. A brilliant tutorial sets the mood and the gameplay and features PB pursuing a magical pie – it’s in color – once he has a taste, he can create time-clones of himself to help him in the increasingly baffling levels to come.<\/p>\n

For example, create a clone to stand on one side of a see-saw – so when you jump, he careens up and lands, sending you up to where the pies are. Or you can whack them into new areas, create “loops” where a clone performs a certain action again and again (like hitting a switch). Each level features clever puzzles, all in 2D, and the animations are amusing, surreal and adorable.<\/p>\n

It also happens to be yet another great example of games as art.<\/p>\n

Portal fans take note, this game is challenging in much the same way. I can’t believe it isn’t making more of a splash, PB Winterbottom while as tasty as, is not as easy as, pie.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing offensive except the silly whacking (clones rub their butts in annoyed pain) but the game WILL help your child find creative solutions to interesting problems using a limited toolset and imagination. I heartily recommend this game, it’s cheap, filling and dessert for your brain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Available on Xbox Live or in Windows. \u00a0I can’t believe I missed this game when it came out in early Feb. It just arrived for PC and I caught a commercial for it and – wow. Using German expressionalistic\/surrealism to create a loopy platformer is a great idea. It’s a black and white world, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}