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MWC 2012: Hands-on with Hamilton's Great Adventure THD for Tegra-powered Android devices

Hold on to your hats

MWC 2012: Hands-on with Hamilton's Great Adventure THD for Tegra-powered Android devices

Hamilton's Great Adventure THD is a mixture of old and new, so while its gameplay is inspired by the maze-based puzzlers of days gone by like Chip's Challenge, the game itself contains the kind of beautiful 3D graphics you'd expect from a highly rated PC indie title.

I sat down at Nvidia's stand at Mobile World Congress for a brief hands-on with Hamilton's Great Adventure THD to see just how the game looks and runs on a mobile device (in this case, on the Asus Transformer Prime).

The adventure begins

Short answer to that question: very well. While there were a few hiccups with the framerate during startup in this early build of the game, the graphical detail and speed were surprisingly close to that of the PC original.

The aim of the game is as simple as they come: get the slightly podgy Indiana Jones lookalike Hamilton to the exit portal. The portal requires a key to unlock it, while treasures and "mystic dust" lie hidden around each stage.

You're accompanied on this adventure by Sasha, your trusty bird. At a touch of a button (I was using an Xbox 360 controller for this hands-on), you can switch between the two characters, with certain switches and items only accessible to your feathered friend.

Birds of a feather

Levels are laid out like a grid, much like the adventure-puzzle titles of yesteryear - only on this occasion, you have full 360-degree control of your two characters.

The stages I played through were set in jungle ruins (a staple location for any fearless adventurer), with special tiles like rotten planks (that break after you run over them) and water channels that act like conveyor belts.

These different obstacles (and more) work in unison to create the puzzles you'll encounter in the game, with the creators certainly not afraid of letting you walk into a dead end should you not properly plan your movements in advance.

We'll see how Hamilton's Great Adventure THD fares in the wilds of tablets and mobiles when the game launches for Tegra-powered Android devices later this year.

PC version pictured above.


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Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).