Chilly Beach Beach Hunt
Isn't it such a turn-off when a game takes itself too seriously? Well, you won't have to worry about that when you play Chilly Beach Beach Hunt from the guys at ilaugh.com, the self-proclaimed "second sweetest comedy portal on earth." (Right after ZomboCom, I bet.)
You are a detective for the Canadian government, trying to discover the whereabouts of a stolen hockey trophy. Chilly Beach is a tiny backwater town with all the usual characters: the liquor store owner, the hippie, the policeman, the guy who runs the diner, and oh yeah, a polar bear who likes tea. When you start questioning people, you'll quickly discover that something much more sinister is going on. At each location, you have three options: look, talk, and take. Select one of these options and click on various items and people around the screen. It's OK to try to do everything to every possible item; you can't screw up. In fact, you can get some pretty entertaining responses by clicking on different things. Use and trade objects to get new objects, and to discover clues to what is really going on in Chilly Beach. When looking through your inventory, you can zoom in on each item to find out more about it—you'll get most of your clues this way.
Analysis: Chilly Beach Beach Hunt is very reminiscent, and probably inspired by, the Monkey Island series of games. Like Monkey Island, its strength is the humorous dialogue, not only between characters, but the responses you get when, say, you try to take the police constable. However, CBBH (if I may call it that) goes a step farther by poking fun at games like itself. For example, when you try to take an object you don't need, you get responses like "You're surprised to find that it's really just a hologram. Yeah, that's it. 'Hologram'."
Writing aside, the gameplay is nothing novel. You collect items, you use items. It's usually painfully obvious where to use the items you receive, so the game goes by pretty quickly - a half-hour seems about right. Also, even though I usually turn the music off on games that allow it, there desperately needs to be some sound—either effects when you click on things, or a little intro music when you enter someplace new; just something!
Nevertheless, the art is well-done and the characters are, well, colorful to say the least. All-in-all a decent way to spend a half-hour.
Note that while the game itself is pretty kid-safe (PG), the rest of ilaugh.com is not.
Cheers to Mike and Esmond for submitting this one. =)
Walkthrough Guide
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Hilarious. Too bad the items don't really give you D&D powers...
For those of you who are stuck, a walkthrough:
Take the puck at the ice rink and head to Puck Stop.
Give the puck to Jacques, the restaurant owner. He will give you salt in exchange. Just for fun, take the rancid meat. (It has no purpose in the game, but it's humorous to read the description and offer it to various people.)
Head to April's van and give her the salt. She'll pay you for it.
Use the money to buy beer at the Beer Mart.
Go to Dale's house and give him the case of beer. He'll trade you a jersey for it. Grab the brochure and a videotape while you're there.
Head to Frank's shack and click the arrow on the interface to pan right. Take the antifreeze on the shelf.
Go back to Puck Stop. Use the antifreeze on the frozen door, and then go back into the meat locker.
Give the jersey to the freezing boy in exchange for a phone bill. Take the butcher knife and the ham.
Go to the polar bear's den. Offer the ham to the polar bear, who will give you a tea bag. Grab the teacup (just for kicks) and the newspaper (you'll have to pan right to see it.)
At the police station, give the officer the tea bag. He'll provide you with more evidence. Use the phone bill with the phone and answer the question (squash.) This will allow you to access the trapper's cabin. Finally, take the handcuffs and keys.
Go to the American Embassy. Give the newspaper to the girl for still more evidence. Use the keys to open the cabinet. Place the tape in the VCR and view the rather amusing video. When you've done that, pan right to get the playing cards on the statue.
Head to the trapper's cabin. Show him the playing cards to snap him out of his trance. Take the spare wooden leg.
(optional) Go to Frank's again. Talk with the alien, who will give you green goo. Give that to Frank at the Beer Mart to recieve a translator that will allow you to talk with the alien. Again, this is just for fun.
Go back to Frank's. Smash the chair with the wooden leg.
Go back to April's and use the knife to cut the clothesline behind her.
Go to the ice rink, and you're done.
Posted by: Lizard | February 12, 2007 11:50 AM