The tale of Robin Hood has been retold through many mediums, including countless books, movies, TV shows, and games. In an unlikely turn of events, this latest tale of the man in green tights is presented as a series of casual games with an emphasis on simple puzzles and hidden objects.
Robin Hood’s quest to steal from the rich and give to the poor is told through various scenarios that require him to get out of sticky situations. The problem is that these situations often don’t make sense in context of the story. Sometimes you’re required to find certain items that halt the soldiers chasing after you, such as marbles for them to slip on, or pieces of wood to barricade a door. The rest of the time you’re looking for useless things such as misplaced apples, fish, swords, and other useless items which have nothing to do with the current situations.
While you will be meeting known and lovable characters along the way such as Friar Tuck and Little John, much of the story is hard to get immersed in due to the complete lack of animation and voice overs. This is even worse considering much of the writing is fairly witty, albeit cheesy, and would have given each character some humor and personality.
The casual mini games mainly focus on hidden objects, but there are variety of other puzzles, including spotting visual differences, guessing an answer based off of clues, putting together a fragmented puzzle, memorizing patterns, and even some riddles thrown in for good measure.
For those who might get lost in Sherwood Forest and need help with certain challenges, a timed hint system can be utilized which highlights important sections of the screen, as well as giving the option to skip some challenges altogether. Many of these mini-games won’t pose much of a challenge, however, and should be a breeze to speed through.
While this game lacks the immersion that Robin Hood fans might be seeking, it is a game aimed at casual players who will most likely skip over every story segments and dedicate themselves to the hefty serving of mini-games. Even casual gamers however will find that this tale lacks any real challenges, and will have to give Maid Marian a raincheck.
by Mike Splechta,
