Paste Magazine June/July 2010 : Page 107
THE MISADVENTURES OF P.B. WINTERBOTTOMMEGA MAN 10 GAMES BOOKS MEGA MAN 10 DEVELOPER: INTI CREATES PUBLISHER: CAPCOM PLATFORMS: XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3, NINTENDO WII When an angry robot-baseball isn’t enough THE MISADVENTURES OF P.B. WINTERBOTTOM DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: THE ODD GENTLEMEN PLATFORM: XBOX 360 (XBOX LIVE ARCADE) A quirky Xbox Live puzzler? It’s about time. Like the 2008 smash indie game Braid, P.B. Winterbottom conjures temporal conundrums, but to modest ends—its protagonist simply wants to collect pies. That’s the whole plot. This pastry hunt inspires dozens of devious puzzles to test players’ wits, with each level containing a number of pies to collect, often within a time limit. It’s impossible for one person to do alone; fortunately, Winterbottom can record temporary clones of himself that run in a loop. As challenges become more difficult, orchestrat-ing the clones starts to feel like building a complex machine—several moving parts must work in perfect harmony. The game is presented like an Expressionist film, all stark shadows and impossible angles, with a jaunty piano score providing sinister undertones. Goofy premise notwithstanding, the fresh aesthetic and time-twisting gameplay make P.B. Winterbottom as irresistible as the pies that tempt its hero. MITCH KRPATA 8.0 When Capcom asked the team at Inti Creates, “If you could put all your best Mega Man ideas into a new game, what would you make?” the result was Mega Man 9. Then Capcom asked, “What else ya got?” And so now we have Mega Man 10, an unpolished sequel that shows signs of developer fatigue. MM10 isn’t a disaster; the wacky cast of bosses includes Strike Man (a huge cybernetic baseball) and Sheep Man (just what he sounds like), and dozens of bite-sized “challenge” stages provide a pleasing diversion when the journey to Dr. Wily’s lair feels like too much. Yet the main quest’s raggedy level design suffers from a chronic lack of follow-through, often introducing a new enemy or obstacle and forgetting about it soon after, which roughly approximates the overall experience of playing the game. JOHN TETI 7.4 OOKS MEGA MAN 10 DEVELOPER: INTI CREATES PUBLISHER: CAPCOM PLATFORMS: XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3, NINTENDO WII When an angry robot-baseball isn’t enough THE MISADVENTURES OF P.B. WINTERBOTTOM DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: THE ODD GENTLEMEN PLATFORM: XBOX 360 (XBOX LIVE ARCADE) A quirky Xbox Live puzzler? It’s about time. Like the 2008 smash indie game Braid, P.B. Winterbottom conjures temporal conundrums, but to modest ends—its protagonist simply wants to collect pies. That’s the whole plot. This pastry hunt inspi !The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
