Good Night Mr Snoozleberg

Sleepwalking is something most of us grow out of as we leave childhood. Stories about waking up naked in neighbours' gardens or breakfast time discoveries of a suspiciously yellowed refrigerator interior filled the playground with shrieks of laughter and gasps, and we told the tales again and again.

Mr Snoozleberg however, is a more mature sleepwalker, and furthermore a man whose position in society would be toppled by allegations of night time shenanigans were he to be discovered. He's an esteemed diplomat, and apparently is charming, likable and inoffensive, but he has a fondness for extremely risky somnambulism.

His condition takes him to building sites, film sets, ports and rooftops, as well as plenty of other dangerous locales besides. It's your job as his guardian angel to guide him to safety, preventing him from becoming the victim of sheer drops, ravenous animals and various pieces of industrial machinery.

To do this you just follow the respected public figurehead with a cursor, using simple directional controls. As he arrives at a hazard you must click on interactive objects, rearranging scenery to allow the portly gentleman to pass safely and blissfully by.

Whether blasting him upwards with a jet of steam to pass a perilous gap, or dazing a violent dog with a well-dropped pot plant, timing is everything, as triggering events too early or too late will do Mr Snoozleberg as much harm as good. As the levels progress more challenging puzzles develop, but a quick finger is perhaps more important than a quick mind as the difficulty ramps up.

Mr Snoozleberg is certainly a basic game, but its charm wins you over. It's not explicitly a comedy title, yet the constant stream of silliness combined with some wonderfully daft presentation will make you titter and snigger, and the titular Snoozleberg is irresistible as the hapless and oblivious lead.

Still, while it won't give you nightmares, there are problems that can frustrate after a while. Once you've learnt how to overcome all but the last few obstacles in a level, you are repeatedly sent back to the start as you fail, meaning on harder levels you'll spend far too much time repeating early tasks.

There's also a somewhat over-familiar feel as various obstructions repeat themselves only slightly disguised as something new, and occasionally interactive scenery elements are particularly unclear. The game is a little on the short side, though a neat scoring system does encourage replay.

But overall, Good Night Mr Snoozleberg is a well-produced, accessible title that's easy to lose yourself in and hard to put down. It's filled with charm and humour, helped by some brilliant musical tomfoolery, and certainly stands out from the crowd of the typical games that fill the puzzle genre. Sleep on Mr Snoozleberg.

Good Night Mr Snoozleberg

Though Good Night Mr Snoozleberg is over in 40 winks, this brilliantly silly sleepwalking puzzler has lashings of originality that most puzzle games could only dream of
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Will Freeman
Will Freeman
Will Freeman is the former editor of trade publication Develop, having also written for the likes of The Guardian and The Observer.