Quirky games like Henry Hatsworth In The Puzzling Adventure often try to break free of familiar genres—their way of rebelling against the status quo. Hatsworth, though, rebels against the rebellion. This title embraces genre, marrying a couple of crusty forms that date from the Game Boy era: the action platformer and the falling-block puzzler. It’s strange that a game so steeped in the old standards manages to feel so new.
The whole of Hatsworth is more than the sum of its parts. On the DS’ top screen, the harrumphing title character fights through jungles, airships, caves—the typical range of 2D wonderlands. The bottom screen houses the Puzzle Realm, where colored blocks yearn to be swapped into rows of three or more. Taken separately, these games-within-the-game aren’t that novel, but Hatsworth plays them off each other to great effect. When Henry slays a foe on the top screen, the monster tumbles to the bottom and sabotages your puzzle. A four-headed goblin, for instance, will create an immovable jumbo block four times the size of a normal square. Success on the puzzle board rewards Henry in turn with power-ups, including a kick-ass, delightfully out-of-place robot suit.