Hewitt

Frustratingly cute

Reviewed by Shawn from afro-ninja.com

Hewitt is a top-notch adventure game that took over a year of work between two developers to reach completion. Their work is apparent- Hewitt looks and plays great, and is pretty lengthy. Aside from some fairly quirky puzzle elements Hewitt provides a solid experience for any adventure/ point and click fan.

After having a foretelling dream of loneliness, Hewitt decides he needs to get his act together and find a gal to take to the school dance. Hewitt’s not exactly the popular type though, so he’s gonna need as much help as you can give him. Personally, if I had to go through as much trouble as Hewitt to find a date to the dance I’d probably think twice, but that’s just me. Use the arrow/WASD keys to move Hewitt around, and use the mouse to look/touch/talk to things in the environment. You can examine, use, and combine the items in your inventory- from there it’s all up to you to figure out just what you need to do.

Hewitt is a very long game, with a complex level of item interaction required to find everything and get everywhere you need. A little too complex in my opinion. A majority of the game makes sense but some of the tasks you have to complete are out there. Some require specific clues as well, so unless you touch/examine/talk to EVERYTHING, you’ll probably miss a vital hint somewhere. Certain events are also tricky to activate, as it requires that you talk to people multiple times, talk to certain people after other events, click specific areas of an object in the right circumstances, or something of the matter. I had to consult the walkthrough myself, and to be quite honest I’m not sure I could have ever made it through the game otherwise. A save feature is offered though, so if you’re determined to do it yourself you can always save and come back later.

The overall graphics and game presentation are great. Environments have a very consistent clean and cartoony look to them, and all major interactions in the game have voice-overs to accompany them. Small touches were added too, such as volume and game speed controls, and the neat computer saving interface. A major complaint I have though is the item-combination system. Instead of simply clicking on one item and then another to combine it, you first have to ‘look’ at one item to place it in Hewitt’s hands, then click and place another item on top of that one to combine it. If the items don’t combine the item you just selected is now placed in hewitt’s hands, making it annoying to attempt multiple combinations. And when a game has a few obscure combinations like this one, that can be a problem. The soundtrack is also excellent, offering several different tracks to listen to while you play, none of which get repetitive.

There’s no doubting that Hewitt is long and complex, and my hat (if I wore one) goes off to anyone that can manage the game with absolutely no walkthrough help. Even when the game is frustrating you can’t help but admire the thought that went into the puzzle set-ups, even if it seems a bit ‘too-convenient’ or contrived at times. So give Hewitt a spin and help the poor guy find a date, will ya?

Click here to play Hewitt






Comments (0) [view all]
Click here to leave a comment