The Adventures of Mr. Bobley

Summary

The Adventures of Mr. Bobley is a 3d platformer adventure game featuring physics based puzzles and challenges that also require you to drive vehicles and operate heavy machinery. Set at a skyscraper construction site, the game’s goal is to climb ever higher and higher. The game is all about physics and interaction with the environment.

Character

Mr. Bobley is just your average construction worker who arrives to work in the morning only to find intricate puzzles to solve. He has to prove his skills in a hazardous construction site environment. To advance in the game he has to figure out how to use various kinds of construction machinery to his advantage.

Game mechanics

While the game looks almost like a 2d platformer, the character can walk in any direction. The camera view is locked overlooking the scene at a constant angle. Even when driving vehicles the camera angle remains unchanged. To aid the player in orienting themselves in 3d space, small graphical help is provided in the form of a jump distance indicator and a picture-in-picture window.

Levels

There are 24 levels in the game. Each level has several puzzles that you need to solve in order to advance to the next puzzle. Level design can be quite complex because there are usually multiple floors in one level. Higher floors become transparent to prevent blocking the player’s view. Nonetheless, the player always knows where to go because the exit is always to the right and upwards. This is yet another game mechanic taken from classic platformer games.

Puzzles

All puzzles are based on physics interaction with the environment. You have to drive cars, trucks, fork-lifts and tipping lorries. Use cranes and elevators to push, haul, lift and transport objects as necessary to overcome challenges and get obstacles out of the way. You also need to build bridges and make stairways. There are also various minigames like maze puzzle, escape run, even a soccer match.