Released in 2005, Bone: Escape from Boneville is both an adaption of the first issue of Jeff Smith’s classic comic book series but also Telltale’s first point-and-click adventure game.
Unfortunately Telltale’s first leap into the adventure game genre proves to be quite mediocre as the game suffers from a few flaws that really hold it back and make it hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t a fan of the comics.
Pros:
- The characters are likeable and the game does present an interesting lore that makes me want to check out the comics
- The game has a good sense of humour
- Knows how to create a mysterious atmosphere when needed for the occasion
Cons:
- The game is too short clocking in at about an hour, this is understandable with most Telltale titles as they’re generally episodic, however this one wasn’t and instead was released as a standalone title, not part of a seasonal pack such as their later releases
- The audio mixing is awful, sometimes the music will overshadow the characters’ dialogues
- Help mode is overbearing to a point where it will just outright state the answer to a puzzle
Bone: Out From Boneville
[Point-and-Click Adventure] [Comedy] [Fantasy] [Easy]
The game is all about the Bone cousins as they’re chased out of their hometown, along their way discover the mystical thorn valley which holds many secrets and monsters for our heroes to handle.
While the characters are likeable, the game does fall flat with how simple the puzzles can be, with one in particular being especially frustrating – not helped by the fact that this puzzle, which requires you to play hide-and-seek with the Possum kids twice, both times ruining the game’s general pacing and artificially extending the playthrough time.
As noted before, yes the game is very short and can be beaten within 2 hours, especially since there’s absolutely no challenge at all. The puzzles are easy with a hint box that will spell everything out to you if selected enough times – this ruins any challenge the game had going for it and ruins one of the key fundamentals established from within this particular genre as point and click games need to have some reasonably tricky puzzles to test the player regardless of age.
From a visual standpoint, yes the game has aged and the lower budget is quite noticeable (e.g. Backgrounds are hand painted instead of 3D models and don’t mix with the foreground that well) but the simple style does a good job capturing the simple look of the comics that’s pleasing to the eyes.
In short, while a fun little distraction, I can’t really bring myself to recommend this game to others due to its short comings such as being too short and nothing really feeling properly fleshed out. With that said, you’re probably better off checking out the comics instead
5.5/10
