In part because it was promoted as harder than Super Meat Boy, and that it was so hard that even the developer hasn’t beat it yet, I skipped “Notebook Adventures” for the first 19 months of its life. But I finally gave it a try, and I’m pleased that I did.
First, a confession: I haven’t “beat” a lot of games. Part of that stems from the era I began gaming in, that being the Intellvision era of the early ’80s. Those games rarely had an “end”, you played them until you went on to another activity. One example is Astrosmash, an Intellivision game that cycles through different background colours as you advance, only to wrap around to the first colour again if you play it long enough (as I discovered). So the idea of play a game until you beat it, then trade it in, has never really been part of my psyche. So as I approach each game from the perspective of play it, enjoy it, and move on when I want to play something different (whether the last one was “finished” or not).
From that perspective, I could get 240 Microsoft Points out of this game, even if I’m never likely to beat it. What appealed to me was that it took the notebook motif and ran far with it. Levels have notes jotted in them about dangers and/or potential solutions to them, like someone ruminating over a problem, as one example of that. It’s a nice looking game that delivers a consistent in-game experience, does offer a lot of challenge, and is fun for as far into it as I was able to progress without finding it frustratingly hard.
Here’s what the developer (Six3six Studios) has to say about the game:
“$100 Visa gift card to the first person to beat the game but you must like Cecil Jenkins on Facebook :D Follow Cecil Jenkins on his first Notebook Adventure. Hardest game since Super Meat Boy. Embark crossed over 40 pen and paper levels, avoid the spikes, climb the ropes, and DON’T FORGET THE KEY. Most challenging adventure yet. More prizes to win with next update on the way. Good Luck.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 