The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Ever since the 2008 Independent Games Festival, I’ve had an eye on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. It showed plenty of promise and had me hooked when it told me I could “disrupt the space-time continuum, and steal tons of pie...” Now, nearly two years later, the game is released and I’m ready for my mind to be turned into a pie and baked for Mr. Winterbottom to steal (or something else slightly less gross to signify mental challenge).

But first, the structure. The main story is spread across five worlds, represented by movie posters, each containing about ten, usually single screen, levels. In each level there are interactions with clones like swatting them with an umbrella or standing on top of their top hats. The clones are made by recording actions and will loop unless interfered with while the limit on the amount of clones varies from level to level. Each world introduces its own slight twist on the main cloning mechanic with the overall goal of figuring out how to collect all the pies scattered about. In the time since 2008, numerous browser-based games with clone mechanics have come out like Time Donkey. Having played those, the mechanics and puzzle situations are quite familiar.

Possibly as a direct result of that, I never felt the game posed much of a challenge. There are a few levels that do require unconventional thinking, like making a chain of clones to propel yourself across the level or using a clone to record a path for another clone. One of the biggest challenges early on is how to get past a wall that shows up after three pies are collected in the level. It picked my brain for a bit but when I finally solved it, I felt genuinely clever. But a majority of the fifty-one main levels are mindless, usually with the pies being a clear indicator of where to place your clones. The pace at which the puzzles go is quick and as a result, I rarely felt like I was able to take them in and really think about them.

While the bonus levels do provide more challenge with overall time or clone number limited goals, they are a pain to attempt due to a general clunky feel. All the time-based goals ask for more dexterous clone placement than quick wit, typically requiring memorization of what needs to be done beforehand. And all the clone-number limited goals are hampered by no instant restart, turning any mistake into a frustrating stumble through the menus to try again. Even in the main menu for each bonus level there is no quick indication of whether either challenge has been cleared.

The game does have an endearing style elsewhere in its design, down to the name of the main character, P.B. Winterbottom. It even contains the best use of the word “buttwitt” you will see all year. The well-written metrical intertitles between levels offer plenty of lighthearted themes but don’t provide any kind of connective tissue level to level. It gives the feeling that the puzzles were created beforehand and then stuffed in the middle of a story. The visual and audio stylings are reminiscent of the silent film era with plenty of flickering dust specs on the “film”, a great projector sound effect when recording actions and an appropriately piano heavy soundtrack that still retains a modern flare.

While it is very charming with its style, too many puzzles lack challenge. That isn’t to say there is zero challenge but the moments of feeling truly clever are few or too infuriatingly clunky to put up with. Ultimately, Mr. Winterbottom didn’t let the pie bake quite long enough and nobody, not even a pie-fiend like him, enjoys half-baked pie.

Ben