In a Nutshell
Hamilton's Great Adventure follows a daring explorer as he explores ruins filled with traps, treasure and puzzles. it's not a complicated game to understand, but it does get tricky.
Story
Hamilton's Great Adventure tells the tale of Ernest Hamilton, or rather, Ernest Hamilton tells his tale to his granddaughter. Though superfluous, it is a simple tale of adventure. Hamilton is a world renowned explorer of ruins who is hunting an artifact of considerable power for a machine built by his professor friend. As you complete levels and trot around the globe, you learn more and more about the characters and their story. it's charmingly told and adds flair to the whole affair.
Gameplay
The basic gameplay in Hamilton's Great Adventure is simple, You move Hamilton via the keyboard and control his trusty bird Sidekick Sasha with the mouse. You go through mazes filled with traps, collapsing floors and treasure in the search of the golden key which unlocks the gate at the end. It's a game that is reliant not on your reflexes but on your aptitude to puzzle out mazes, and with the variety of traps peppered throughout the levels, you'll certainly find puzzles that will tickle your brain cells. It starts off rather easy but the later puzzles get rather tricky and the large number of bonus maps will certainly grab you if you enjoy puzzles and mazes.
The game is separated in 4 areas, each with 11 levels, the last one being this game's idea of boss fights (But they're more really just somewhat trickier levels). As you collect treasure throughout the levels, you unlock bonus levels which, as I mentioned before, get really tricky. The main replay value comes from the fact you need to aim for all the treasure to obtain a Gold rank on a level and the scoring mechanics which can help rank you on the leaderboards based on speed or score.
As you defeat the guardians, you'll obtain artifacts which I found rather... useless, sadly. They also use a mechanic that is not quite as great as the rest of the game. To use the artifacts, you need to have Sasha collect magic dust which peppers the landscape, meaning you must click everywhere as you solve puzzles just to use artifacts that are not all that useful unless you want to get a very good time. There is only one artifact you need to use to get past a type of trap, which is a shame. The artifacts could've been better used. That said, it's probably the one flaw i can think of with this game, the poorly implemented artifacts.
All in all, this game is quite fun, it's easy to learn but gets rather tricky as it goes. A level creator would certainly have been a great addition, as it would've allowed a community effort making new levels.
Presentation
The game uses a very nice artstyle for the portraits and illustrations for the story sequences and journal entries. it's sepia-toned and old timey, reminding us of that period where the world was still full of mysteries and ruins. it certainly goes for that Indiana Jones feel with cartoonish glee and succeeds at making the game look unique. Each tile comes in different flavors for each of the different regions you explore and these regions all have their own feel and theme which works well to distinguish them and makes you feel as if you're traveling with Hamilton to the four corners of the Globe. The music is charming and light, and helps with the atmosphere without being particularly noticeable or catchy. It did not really leave an impression on me.
Verdict
Hamilton's Great Adventure is quite a fun and charming puzzle game. if you like mazes and having to think things through, you will probably enjoy Hamilton's Great Adventure. I give it a score of Tricky and Fun. The only real flaws are the poorly implemented artifacts and lack of a level creator.
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