Upon booting up The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo, I am instantly reminded of the 90s cartoons I used to be obsessed with as a child. As the quirky, colorful, and bizarre characters are constantly changing and moving, I try to grasp the context of what is happening in the game. But after a minute or two I am hit with a realization: the whole point of The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is its nonsensical, strange, and playful theme the player doesn’t have to make sense of.
Mr. Coo is a cartoon character whose expressive demeanor stands out immediately as he’s introduced. The game opens with him chasing an apple he badly wants to eat, like Scrat from the Ice Age films failing to get his acorn but never failing in making the audience laugh. I am easily impressed by the gorgeous hand-illustrated animation as Mr. Coo rides a chick, trying his best to get the apple and not giving up even though the whole world seems to be against him.
When Mr. Coo finally gets the apple, one would think it is a scene with a happy ending. However, his joyful moment is cut short when a giant monster gets a hold of him. As the monster comically chops Mr. Coo’s body into three parts and scatters them in different areas, it’s up to the players to solve wacky puzzles, discover hidden secrets, and unite his head with the rest of his body.
Being a point-and-click game, The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo’s controls are simple enough to follow even without much instruction. The main feature of the gameplay is to solve puzzles. And, let me tell you, it isn’t a cakewalk. The puzzles are fun yet complex in nature. As someone who likes to solve puzzles in video games and is averagely skilled, it took me a good two hours to complete my playthrough. Each level was of different difficulty, so some puzzles took less time to solve while others needed a good 15-20 minutes of my time to figure out as I challenged myself not to look at the hints.
Bad at puzzle solving but still want to play the game? No worries! The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo also offers hints at every level when the player gets stuck. And as a believer of accessibility being super important in video games, I respect the developers for incorporating this feature into the game so everyone can equally enjoy it.
My favorite detail about The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is its expressive 90s animation style. They say actions speak louder than words and this game proves it. The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is carried by it’s goofy animation and music that perfectly communicates to the player better than dialogues or words. The beautiful hand-illustrated animation make the character designs feel unique and light-hearted and will have you reminiscing of your childhood. I think my only complaint about The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is it was too short – I wanted to explore more of the strange world Mr. Coo was stuck in.
As a whimsical, wacky puzzle adventure, The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo feels like a nostalgic return to childhood. Playing it on a weekend morning as I tried to help Mr. Coo become whole again, I was taken back to the time of enjoying Sunday cartoons as a kid. In spite of it being a short 1-2 hour game, I can see it catering to players who want a quick gameplay session in-between a busy day or just for someone who can sit back and enjoy some good ol’ puzzle solving without tedious gameplay. Aside from the animation style, the best part about this game is its nonsensical take on a world that is brimming with vibrance and adventure, which I wish we’ll have a chance to explore more in the future.
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