Similar in nature to Lights Out, Henry is a fellow translation of one of Tiger's popular standalone handhelds.
Henry is at once a familiar game while also being an interesting twist on a classic puzzle theme. The basic gameplay structure is that of the Memory Game, or Concentration - a grid of flippable cards in which the players take turns attempting to match like cards. What makes Henry unique is that, instead of pairing up visual clues, the players are to match sounds. Henry presents you with a 4x4 grid of clickable squares, activated via the touchscreen and stylus, each containing an audible soundclip. At the start of a player's turn, a random sound is played, and the player is to attempt to find the square that matches the given sound. If sucessful, the player takes an additional round - otherwise, its the next player's (or the Com's) turn. Winning the match has a BINGO-like flavor, with a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row of matched squares necessary to succeed. Measuring gameplay for puzzle games is always a difficult task, given that such games very rarely fail to live up to the designer's intentions. We've all played bad translations of arcade games, but puzzle games with their unadorned design are somewhat harder to ruin. However, there are puzzle games that are inherently poor from the start... which is not the case with Henry. This game is genuinely fun, taking a concept that virtually everyone has played and improving upon it. Essentially a game of "sound Concentration", you might be surprised how challenging it is to recall audible not visual clues. Having played the Com version of Henry for many hours now, I'm tempted to buy the standalone version merely for the increased value of social gameplay. There are but two possible downsides to Henry, which are minor in detail and easily avoidable with foreknowledge. First, Henry is a social game above all other considerations. Don't come into the game expecting perfect fairness of game design - with the necessity to line up 4 squares to win, its rather easy for a player to come out of nowhere and take victory away from another player who did most of the work. A little heated competition, however, is welcome if not desired in a social setting - I've had a grand time playing Henry with my wife and play-fighting over such losses. Second, I heartily encourage always turning off the "visual clue" option before playing Henry. With visual clues on, the game loses the very element that makes it unique - the focus upon the audible clues. Trust me, its simply too easy to find yourself relying upon the visuals to aid your memory, all but ignoring the sounds of the game. You'll enjoy the game much more without this feature active. Nothing much to say about the graphics of Henry - they're simple, but get the job done with perfect efficiency. As for the sounds... once again, the Com shines here. Boasting "over 80 sounds" to serve as audible clues, you'll find yourself humored when attempting to match up sounds such as sirens, animal calls, miscellaneous sound effects, and various speaking voices. An interesting tidbit - I don't know what type of algorithm the Com uses for its "memory" when playing against you, but I have noticed that when answering incorrectly, it tends to pick sounds similiar to what is necessary. In other words, it might mistake one speaking voice for another, or pick an elephant's call for a cat's meow. And the Com does make mistakes, playing with roughly the same skill of an average human player. Unfortunately, there is not an option to increase/decrease the Com's skill. Henry, like the Com's bundled Lights Out cart, very effectively highlights what the system is capable of. Downplay the graphics requirements, while presenting a fun, challenging game that emphasizes both the touchscreen and sound capabilities of the system. Children with little patience for puzzle games might not find this cart appealing, but everyone else surely will.
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