Hairy Tales Review

Hairy Tales, a game that has been out of the Ios store for some months has come to PC/Mac. But how well does it translate to the big screen?

I have to say, I have never played anything like Hairy Tales, and that’s  good thing. It is a game which boats an exciting, unusual world ripped seemingly out of an weird fairytale, a unique, cheerful  folk soundtrack, and an impressively different art style as well as a complete lack of sleazy monetization all add to the rock-solid puzzle mechanics.

When you first open the game, you will be presented with four choices; Play, Options, About, and Quit. Simple and understandable, what you need when opening a game.  Options allow  you to change your screen resolution; Graphics from simple to fantastic and Music and Sound will change the in-game volume.

Hairy Tales tasks you with guiding a Neanderthal-like character (aptly named a ‘Hairy’) on a mission to rid the world from corruption from its beginning location to a portal situated elsewhere in the world. Each world consists of tiled pieces of land, with most pieces being movable, thus allowing you to move the world around to help get Hairy to his destination, without falling off the edge.

Both engaging and entertaining, the gameplay is not as simple as guiding Hairy to the portal, as the unlock it requires a crystal. In addition, picking up the crystal also allows your Hairy to cleanse the surrounding world, which is tracked and necessary in order to fully clear the level. Finally, each level has optional mushrooms littered across the map which ought to be collected for completion’s sake. It all sounds fairly simple, it’s a pleasure to play. Simplicity can truly work wonders rather than overcomplicating a game.

As if the above wasn’t , also littered across each level are elements such as arrows & fences, which force your Hairy to move in a definite direction. It adds to the gameplay, making you do what puzzle games are designed to do, think. As your Hairy will blindly move in a straight line, it is up to you to guide him to where you need him to go by strategically placing movement oriented pieces in such way that allows your Hairy to collect mushrooms, crystals, & finally hit the portal (while cleansing the area).Later levels add more complicated aspects, such as enemies that need other items in order to be dispatched. Also, since the field of play is hanging mid-air, it is wonderfully simple for your Hairy to basically fall off if you are not being attentive. Thankfully, Hairy Tales gives you lives for each level, which definitely helps when doing trial-and-error. Another little edition is the points system which at the end of the round will calculate points depending on number of lives and time taken.

I absolutely love how involved Hairy Tales works as a puzzle game. Although the core gameplay is fundamentally the same on each level, there’s a variety of different obstructions & elements to deal with. In addition, I appreciate the fact that there’s lots of different ways you can move the land panels & generate solutions. Later levels also force you to dynamically alter the world while your Hairy is moving, adding fast gameplay that keeps you on your feet. It is always a nice thing when a game not only creates clear objectives but also provides the freedom in reaching those, & I think Hairy Tales works well in that regard.

Control is initially quite simple and requires little instruction. If you wish to move a tile, hover the cursor over the tile, click, and drag. To rotate a tile, hover the cursor and click. The controls are meant to be simple, so you can get to grips with them quickly and get onto the tough challenge of solving the puzzles..

I absolutely love Hairy Tales visual style. While not brilliantly important to a puzzle solving game, the graphics & overall motif work well in imparting the quirky feel that the game as a whole tries to give. on a good resolution, the game looks beautiful. It’s great to see that the Unity engine can make games look this nice.

One part of the game was slightly annoying which was the curious omission of tutorials past the first couple of levels. For example, when I first encountered enemies on the field, I wasn’t told that I needed to collect the randomly placed pink garlic clove, which would give me the bad breath needed to defeat the enemy. This sort of trend continues, as you encounter new & modified game elements but are not necessarily told what to do with them. More instruction would have still been nice just to give us players a guiding hand. But it’s not a massive issue.

Still, while the above issues are annoyances, in point of fact they don’t detract from the general experience much. Hairy Tales is still an enjoyable puzzler & a great example of how to integrate a variety of puzzle elements with real-time action, all in a title wrapped in a fantastical weird shell. Suffice to say, puzzle fans ought to take heed at this latest addition, as I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Hairy Tales certainly has a few elements that make warding off the corruption a bit more taxing than it ought to be, but it’s still a very entertaining puzzle game with loads of bushy cuteness. So go ahead; grab a crystal and start running. Just mind the gaps.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.