The Mooseman

Well. This game gets a thumbs up from me because I am engaged with its subject matter. But I'm very sympathetic to those who gave it a thumbs down, because everything else in this game is quite mediocre.

The presentation is actually quite good. I'm especially happy with the music, sound design, and voice-overs, which set the tone perfectly. The visuals seem OK at first, but quickly get repetitive and uninspired. The animation especially seems lazy. At least the visuals don't distract.

The real problem is gameplay: the puzzles have no connection to the story. Well, they sometimes make use of story elements, but these are put together as just plain puzzles, and not very good ones at that. So, puzzles are just annoyances on your journey to experience more of the game content. I like that content, but I'm still annoyed. If life is about "the journey," then The Mooseman is really about the places along the way. If only there were shortcuts (in life, too).

Especially annoying are some of the "puzzles" required for you to get collectibles. They have nothing to do with anything, and in some cases are so obtuse that even the best walkthroughs can't explain their solutions.

Note that the game doesn't really support a controller, despite allowing you to use a controller for movement. I was frustrated for a few minutes trying to play it with one until I realized that the keyboard is absolutely necessary and cannot be mapped to controller buttons.