Jacob Jones And The Bigfoot Mystery Review

Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery: Episode 1 is an incredibly charming puzzle game, that will be quite familiar to fans of Professor Layton's mysteries. Its puzzles might also be rather comfortably familiar, but there's still plenty of fun to be had in the first instalment of the tales of Jacob Jones.

A young boy whose parents send him to summer camp, Jacob finds himself on an adventure to uncover exactly what's going on in Camp Eagle Feather. Luckily, given his parents are adventurers too, he's got just the right brain to figure it all out. It's a fairly linear tale, with Jacob able to briefly explore his surroundings but not exactly change his destiny, but one that gives the illusion of flexibility. This is partly down to tilt controls that enable players to gaze around the area (or simply swipe if they don't want to tilt), and partly down to the fact that there's no need to actually complete the puzzles offered. It's possible to skip ahead, although it's hardly the point of playing such a game.

The puzzles themselves will prove to be quite familiar to puzzling aficionados. There are complicated jigsaws of sorts, puzzles where players must turn all the lights a specific color, spot the difference and logic puzzles. Each is quite the brain teaser, but never too tough for those with lateral thinking minds. A series of hints can be used too, via asking the advice of in-game friends, or using a puzzle pass, acquired through an in-app purchase.

Unlike other games of this ilk, there's a strong and charming story interwoven amongst the puzzles, meaning one actually cares about what happens, not just getting to the next puzzle. Bundled with such attractive visuals and a 3-4 hour length, it's a strong start for Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery: Episode 1 and I'm intrigued to see how future episodes develop.