There's one thing that is evident right from the bat when you start Woodruff: the game itself is just as bizarre, or perhaps even more so, as its name. But then again, that might be expected as it is a game designed by the studio that is perhaps the best known of their oddly humoristic Gobliiins-series, puzzle games laced with odd, screwball comedy. Even the graphical style is similar to Gobliiins-games, as is the style of comedy, but that's all Woodruff has in common with them. Apart from the developer that is.
The story begins with a little history lesson telling how the humans emerged from the undergrounds after spending centuries there, hiding from the aftermath of an atomic war that rendered the surface inhospitable for them. To their surprise, the humans found that the planet was now a dense jungle, inhabited by fierce creatures and a race of mutants called Bouzouks. Humans did what they do the best: they waged a war against the Bouzouks and enslaved them.
So from that setting, our hero Woodruff steps to the stage. He's an adopted son of professor Azimuth, who is killed by the evil ruler Bigwig at the beginning of the game. Bigwig also brutally shoots Woodruff's beloved teddy bear. Woodruff is, during the time, only a little kid but before his demise, Azimuth hides him and sticks a time disorder on him which rapidly grows him up.
The first task Woodruff has to do is to learn how to read, as that helps a lot in getting around the city. During his quest of figuring out what the heck is actually going on, he stumbles into many friends of Azimuths, who are more than willing to lend a hand on Woodruff. Not necessarily a helpful or an altruistic hand, but still, a hand is a hand.
The odd, convoluted and almost surreal tale finally ends with Woodruff helping the Bozouk Wisemen gain back their memories and ridding the vertical city of Vlurxtznbnaxl (the names go off their way to be extra terrible in the game) of the evil forces that have invaded the mind of the leader Bigwig.
Now, I can imagine you are wondering what the heck is the Schnibble that is mentioned in the title of the game. It actually takes some time before this is explained by the story, but explaining it here doesn't really hurt the experience one bit nor does it really make the game any more sensible. Schnibble is a mystical being that will spring a new era of peace and prosperity. It might not come as a huge surprise that in the context of this game, Woodruff is the Shcnibble.
If you've ever played Gobliiins games and liked their brand of comedy, it is likely you'll like the odd brand of comedy Woodruff has on offer. It boils down to a huge amount of nonsense, especially what comes to the dialogue. Then there's the visual humour, which comes from the backgrounds and animations. Woodruff especially has a lot of animations, ranging from using objects to failing to use them. Then again, as you do see these animations quite often, the novelty might wear out sooner rather than later.
And that's really the main issue with Woodruff: it's mostly nonsense that quickly burns out its welcome. What at first seems charming, soon turns annoying. It goes to the animations as well as the sound effects that accompany them. And the story as well. It's all nonsense for the sake of nonsense, bizarre things slapped together in the hopes of it making someone laugh.
The puzzles go from somewhat simplistic to hard. At times, the game does give quite a few clues, so the process can be pretty fast even on puzzles that don't necessarily follow normal logic. But there are a good handful of puzzles that you just have to be aware of. You just have to pick up clues by observing everything you see and try to use the right items in the right place on the right object or a character. It's the kind of a game I really can't call difficult for certain. I mean, it's not easy either, but there's an odd sense of logic in its illogical world. If your brains manage to nudge towards that logic, you'll probably grasp the game better than I did.
As for gameplay, Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth is a simplistic point and click adventure. Left-click interacts with the screen, be it moving around or interacting with items. Right-click opens up the inventory and left-click, as you might have guessed, interacts with items. There's no option for examining anything. Speaking to characters happens by clicking them and talking to them as many times as it takes to cycle through all the options. There are no dialogue trees to choose from, just a conversation string you can run around as many times you want.
Later on, you get a couple of gadgets you need to use in solving puzzles. First, there's the portable communication device, which can be used to call in a couple of places as well as store door keycodes. Another device is a meteorological watch that triggers weather events if you are in the right screen dictated by the weather channel you can call for the weather reports.
As a note on the phone, it's one of the more annoying things in the game. Mostly because instead of numbers it uses 12 buttons with nonsensical syllables on them. So instead of a sequence like 1234, you have to enter combinations like STO-GOZ-DRU. The door codes use the same system and I can assure it gets old really fast.
Another puzzle layer comes from the power words you have to collect after you meet the Wisemen. These are used to restore the powers of the Wiseman as well as components for building a handful of spells used for puzzle solving. This is actually a surprisingly underused feature in the game which could have resulted in far more interesting puzzles. Now the height of the system is a time travel puzzle, which works only on one screen. The aspect of power words is something that could have been used to elevate the whole puzzle structure of the game on an entirely new level, but now it's just one more thing slapped in just because.
Graphically Woodruff and the Snibble of Azimuth is a great looking game. Coktel really went all-in with the backgrounds and the animation. The world is colourful and detailed and the same goes for animation. Or at least the animation of Woodruff, as most of the other characters are pretty sparsely animated. As a whole, I find it one of the best looking games of the time it was made. Your mileage may vary.
But is it a good game? That's a bit more difficult to answer as it more or less boils down to if you can stomach the style of comedy it has. Personally, I think its screwball slapstick antics are a bit too much, at least in a game form. Again, though, if you liked the Gobliiins-series, then Woodruff might be something you might enjoy as well. Like I said, there's an odd sense of logic in the puzzles and if you like the humour, then what's not to like? That said, there's something about Woodruff that leads me to believe it could have worked better as an animated movie.
Sadly (?) enough, Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth is not available through any digital storefront at the moment. I think the only Coktel game in the sale at the moment is the Gobliiins-trilogy. Other titles they did seem to have fallen in either obscurity or legal limbo. Coktel Vision ceased to exist in 2005.
If you do manage to get Woodruff from somewhere, it's pretty simple to get working on any modern OS, as it runs perfectly on ScummVM.
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