When an excellent title comes forth under the radar, it’s difficult not to be a little surprised and especially a little giddy. To be quite honest with you, I hadn’t heard much about Henry Hatsworth before CES 2009. Also, when scheduling the meeting with EA, none of us were expecting such a quality game to arise on the DS (let’s be honest, EA’s strengths have typically been on other platforms and we had yet to see an excellent quality title on the DS from this juggernaut publisher). However, if what we saw from CES 2009 is any indication, Henry Hatsworth could not only be the best EA game on the system but it may rival some of the very best games released on the system to date.
The DS succeeds most from original titles due to its unique controls and Henry Hatworth takes a little from a few different genres to make one heck of an experience. In case you’ve been in the dark since its unveiling (as I was), you should know that Henry Hatsworth plays as both an action game and a puzzler simultaneously featuring a 2D adventure mode on the top screen and a puzzle game on the bottom. Though it might seem difficult to pull off, EA has found a way to seamlessly connect the two game modes together, allowing players to power up moves, replenish hearts, or equip mech suits in the adventure mode by solving some of the puzzle on the bottom screen. If you kill an enemy on the top screen, it falls into the puzzle and if not taken care of quickly, it could lead to some nasty problems in the future. Brilliant connections like these make Henry Hatsworth incredibly intriguing and original.
The game boasts around 30 original levels and 10 or so secret levels to keep players playing and though it’s definitely more geared towards the hardcore crowd, the game is easy enough for casual gamers to pick up as well (a philosophy in which EA has followed Nintendo’s lead). Aesthetically, the game’s hand drawn characters and environments are also a treat and though we couldn’t really hear the music over the busy show floor, I’m expecting good things.
What was once a mystery to me has now become one of my most anticipated games on the DS for 2009. I think any gamer can agree that the right amount of innovation and polish can make for quite the experience on the DS. I’m not jumping to any conclusions just yet but what I can say is that Henry Hatsworth looks about as intriguing as any game I’ve seen in recent years. Look for it in only a couple of months when it hits the States on March 17.
