Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

It's extremely rare to see essentially a double release on the digital content frontier; The Tales of Bearsworth Manor: Puzzling Pages and Chaotic Conflicts add to this rarity. The two games are not simply a Red and Blue version of Pokemon, instead it's comparable to PixelJunk series on PSN. The entire package is similar here except the core game play.

Both games use the Wiimote only to control the game. Thankfully the game is very responsive it just takes some practice to get your motions fluid to aim exactly where you need too. You can lock your direction with the A or B button and then flick your arm. The stronger the flick the farther the bear will go.

Puzzling Pages is a brilliant game focusing on launching the paper bears into candy to collect them. When you collect all the candy on a stage you move on to the next. What makes this more complicated is the addition of elements to clear obstacles in your throwing path. Along with elements players need to make use of what the level is offering which could be things from a switch, trampoline or a see-saw. The game becomes little more than trial and error but the experience remains enjoyable.

Chaotic Conflicts is not as radiant suffering from bad tower defence syndrome. The game is unreliable when it comes to beating the same enemy twice. The same amount of bears can change to beat a single bear. It's luck in the worst way when you throw 8+ bears to kill one measly bear. While limiting bears in puzzle pages made sense with the aspect of trial and error, it doesn't make sense here. Tower Defence games that don't let you earn back expenses to buy troops fail to grasp the concept. The only method of earning more bears is to waste them firing at hard to reach pages. It's required and at the same time wasteful to the goal of surviving the battle.

The graphics in both titles represent a storybook's take on Gothic art style. The style hits its creepy target yet still remains adorable, classic even with the level being portrayed on a storybook. The audio is where problems to start to creep in. While the soundtrack remains with a charming creepy vibe the sound effects are abysmal. Every time a player launches a bear it emits a screech that sounds like a puppy getting strangled.

In the end with each game costing 1000 points only Puzzling Pages is worth the cost. Chaotic Conflicts lives up to the name being completely chaotic and having the scrambling of a tower defense present but with very little satisfaction involved. Puzzling Pages on the other hand perfectly captures what a puzzle game needs to be.

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