Typoman

Typoman’s appeal boils down to whether or not you’re willing to invest in shorter games that are content light, yet have genuinely interesting ideas that are beyond what’s come before. By using words as an aesthetic and gameplay device, it writes its own reasons for why it is unique. My only wishes were that the platforming was tighter and that it had a few more levels. Typoman is over far too quickly for my liking, but this is high praise for what it did in its short time.

Not as good as Braid or Limbo by any means, but nonetheless an estimable 2D puzzle adventure oriented experience. Too short and flat, though.

It took me around 4-5 hours to finish, which in my opinion was about the right length for this type of game (no pun intended!).

Typoman fashions a marvelous world full of wordy wonder, and those who feel it would be up their alley should definitely give the game a try based on that alone. However, the smudges that can come in the platforming, combined with the roller coaster difficulty, may very likely frustrate some when they find themselves caught in a death loop.

With a bit more polish to the difficulty curve, cheap deaths and controls I would love to see Typoman return in another adventure.

The combination between word puzzle and platformer makes Typoman very unique and entertaining. Unfortunately the controls are not comfortable and the logic of the puzzles is a bit lost at the end of the game, which makes Typoman a little too frustrating to enjoy.

This is one to at least look out for on the Wii U. Just keep in mind, there is some trial and error that has to be played through to get to the good bits.

Typoman has a great creative concept that falls short in length and execution. [Issue #19 – January/February 2016, p.24]

The goodwill that it builds at the start does starts to suffer as you realise just how limited the spelling mechanic can be, and start to run into the rough edges around he platforming.

The idea is original and the base is interesting, but at the end of the day it all feels empty and feels like a wasted opportunity. With better mechanics, it could have been a way better game.

Typoman is a brilliant proof of concept muddied by messy mechanics, unclear prompts and a lack of meaningful motivation. While the wordplay is superb, the focus is never on that strength as often as I wish it was.

It needed a little more tightness and guidance in some way that it just didn’t have in the end.

This isn’t an awful game by any stretch, it’s not nothing special, despite the feeling it should be.