Game: Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows & Linux)
Developer|Publisher: Warm Kitten Games
Controller Support: No
Price: UK £14.99 | US $19.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: August 23rd, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Warm Kitten Games.
Back in Time
Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack is a point-and-click adventure which takes some hearty inspiration from the golden era of the genre. Particularly the 90s hit Day of the Tentacle. A title that oddly enough was one of my favourites from back in the day. If you love your point-and-click games, then this is a brand new adventure that will have you puzzling and laughing throughout its experience, whilst providing some warm nostalgia in the process.
Life is not going too well for Justin. He’s recently split from his partner Julia and after an incident with the microwave at work, he has been catapulted back in time to the prehistoric era swapping places with a caveman named Kloot who in the same event is now exploring Justin’s present.
That’s not all, Justin and Kloot are also being chased by a robot from the distant future who aims to correct the timeline by erasing the game’s quirky heroes. The plot is as engaging as it is silly. You follow the events of the game with three playable characters; Justin, Julia and cavemen Kloot who was easily the stand-out of the experience for me, bringing a charming take on the fish-out-of-water experience. I don’t want to spoil the game’s story since it’s one of the game’s strongest assets. But expect plenty of humorous dialogue with multiple pop culture and video game references, some of which may go over the head of some players.
Fully Voice-acted
The game is fully voice-acted in English with decent performances across the board. The robot was an unusual highlight as he seemed to bring a sort of Sean Connery Scottish flavour to the robot delivery which I was on board with. It was nice to see a wide variety of English accents in a video game for a change. Graphics are well crafted and hand drawn. The general feel of the game is light-hearted and soft. Expressing a welcoming feeling suitable for everyone.
Pick up and Click
Gameplay is pick up and click. The goal of the game is to solve a series of puzzles by picking up items and using them in the right place. You’ll need to search around looking for anything and everything that can be picked up as well as talking to a diverse range of weird and wonderful characters both human, robot, dinosaur and out of this world. If you’re new to point-and-click adventures it’s pretty straightforward to get into. The game even breaks you in gently with some basic puzzles to solve at the start. There is no death, even if your character gets into a perilous situation you can take as much time as you need to find the solution.
Using the mouse you click on the screen where you want your character to move to and subsequently click on items of interest to look at them, interact with them or pick them up. Any items you pick up can then be dragged and dropped onto the person or object you need to use them, with including combining them with another item. As is the way with point-and-clicks you’ll inevitably hit a wall where you’re not entirely sure how to progress.
Light Bulb Moment
For me, I tend to find this is the point I walk away from the experience only for the solution to present to me like a light bulb moment usually when I’m doing the dishes. I hit these walls often but I rarely felt stressed, exploring the world is generally a calm and casual experience. The story is not totally linear; you can switch between characters instantly. There will be points where you won’t be able to progress in one timeline without another character performing a specific action in another.
The game is incredibly accessible to those new to the point-and-click experience. If you struggle to find items in the world to interact with you can push the spacebar to see objects clearly highlighted. If you’re just stuck in general you can grab a hint. Which is given by a handy lady Daela (also voice acted) without totally giving away the solution. She’ll even make references to using Discord or Google which was a nice self-aware touch. If you are experienced and want to have an authentic point-and-click experience all these features are totally optional and you can choose just to spend hours looking for solutions to puzzles just like in the good old days.
Conclusion – Recapturing the Spark
Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack is a lighthearted and enjoyable point-and-click adventure that easily achieves what it sets out to do. Recapturing the challenge and humour from the greats back in the day whilst also adding modern improvements for those not looking to get stuck. Whilst only a single player this is a title you could quite easily share with a loved one (including younglings) if you want to try to solve puzzles together. If point and click have never been your thing then this game will unlikely change your opinion on the genre. It got plenty of smirks out of me so I certainly recommend it.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
