GAME REVIEW – The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo (PC)

By Marty Mulrooney

The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is a surreal point-and-click adventure game created by artist, 2D animator and director Nacho Rodríguez, previously the animation director of Ubisoft’s gamified, connected program O.zen. Described by publisher Meridiem Games as ‘a new take on the adventure game genre that will appeal to veteran players and newcomers alike’, players must take control of Mr. Coo in a strange and nonsensical world as he tries to find the three pieces of his body that have become separated – his head, torso and legs – and put himself back together again.

The opening of The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is truly spectacular, showing off the game’s greatest strength: its hand-drawn, cartoon-style 2D animation. Creating this type of animation is a painstaking process and the adventure genre has largely moved away from it as a result. Seeing Mr. Coo run into and out of the screen (which starts off as a black void) is a truly ‘wow’ moment that makes the 2D animation feel almost three-dimensional at times.

The first half of the game is presented as a series of interconnected vignettes that unfold like an animated cartoon, with the player clicking on various hotspots and solving simple puzzles to move the animation along. The transition when moving from one sequence to the next is seamless, and any lack of difficulty is offset by the joy of watching Mr. Coo try – and often fail – to grab a mysterious red gift box tied up in a bow with a green ribbon.

However, not everything is as it seems – while The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is highly abstract and fairly light on plot, there are several cutaway moments that hint at larger forces at work behind the scenes. This adds an air of mystery to Mr. Coo’s adventure. Who is the old man with the cane? What does the hourglass represent? I would love to say all will be revealed, but those looking for answers may come away feeling somewhat frustrated.

To get the most out of this game, players will need to just go with it and enjoy the moment-to-moment gameplay experience – an experience that shifts focus in the second half. When Mr. Coo is cut into three pieces, the game suddenly becomes a traditional point-and-click adventure game, with ‘real-world’ backgrounds mixing with the animation. The player no longer simply clicks the correct hotspot to continue an animated cutscene; instead, clicking will now move Mr. Coo – or to begin with, his hopping head! – around the environment.

The puzzles in the second half are a bit trickier, even without an inventory to manage. There is much trial and error but, for the most part, it’s fun to simply click each hotspot and see what happens – and once Mr. Coo’s head and legs are reunited, the player can switch between them to solve puzzles ‘co-operatively’ and rescue the torso. The puzzles aren’t really difficult, but some of the hotspots are easy to miss; thankfully, the inbuilt hint system uses illustrations to nudge the player towards solutions without spelling them out, similar to the hint system in Machinarium.

I only came across one bug during my time with the game where I could no longer control Mr. Coo’s severed head, but exiting to the main menu let me select and continue from the latest ‘scene’ and I was able to progress without experiencing any further issues. There is also a timed puzzle near the end that can result in death; it’s actually handled really well, but failing requires the player to rewatch a long cutscene that can become tedious after a while. These are minor complaints, but it’s the length that most people will take umbrage with.

Lasting around 2-3 hours, The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is undeniably a short game – disappointingly so, in fact, as it ends just as it’s beginning to hit its stride. Its introductory price of £9.68 on Steam (15% off the usual RRP of £11.39) seems about right, but £15.99 on the PlayStation Store here in the UK and around thirty quid for a physical copy could prove to be too much for some players. That would be a shame, as a sequel would be more than welcome and is strongly hinted at with the infamous words ‘to be continued’.

The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo showcases some of the best 2D animation ever featured in a point-and-click adventure game. It’s very much a game of two halves, and neither half is really given enough time to reach its true potential – but there’s enough charm, humour and intrigue to justify genre aficionados checking it out. Oh, and the zany music is great too! Nacho Rodríguez and his collaborators have done a fantastic job, with a few caveats; I just hope that a sequel gets made and it lasts a bit longer next time, as this is clearly only the beginning of Mr. Coo’s adventures.

7.5 OUT OF 10