Manual Samuel Reviews
Manual Samuel is a unique little adventure with some good moments and a bizarre (to its benefit) control scheme. It's notably short, and some levels do lean on the repetitive side, but it's rare to see something quite like this. It has a lot of soul to it, much of which is due to focusing so heavily on comedy. It's enjoyable overall and is worth looking into if you don't mind playing something a bit different than usual, even if it could have been executed better.
A decent little budget game with a unique mechanic, but fix those crashes guys.
The narrative and characters here are some of the funniest of any recent game I’ve played and the challenge of having to perform all of these normal day to day routines in a new and innovative way was fun as well. If you’ve played and enjoyed other games with challenging and different control schemes such as Octodad or others then you will feel right at home playing Manual Samuel.
Manual Samuel sounded great on paper, with the weird and wacky control scheme promising a tonne of potential for some fun gameplay elements. Unfortunately, the misses really drag down the overall tone. From the unresponsiveness of some button presses, to the cumbersome deaths caused by forgetting to breathe out while trying to control a manual car, to the humour-filled moments that seem to forget the humour - it just seems like a frustrating experience from beginning to end. The story is also weird, with each character playing a caricature of a usual stereotype found in other stories, but they do not seem to come together well at all. The only thing that does flow from scene to scene is the aggravating control scheme, coupled with the equally as annoying characters, and, as such, Manual Samuel is a tough game to sell.
Manual Samuel has some enjoyable moments and for the first hour or so, you will really enjoy it. The combat ultimately becomes the games downfall. The great humor, clean visual style or the madness of having to control body functions manually can’t be saved by how terrible the combat is. The game quickly goes from fantastic to frustrating. Although I had a lot of fun at first, I really couldn't recommend this game to anyone.
What story there is over the handful of hours you’ll play tends to be odd as well, but the strange characters and the ever-present narrator commentating on what you’re doing (complete with celebratory hashtags for mundane achievements like taking a leak) do a good job of rewarding your continued efforts. If you can see the amusement of nearly killing yourself while simply trying to drink some water or narrowly avoiding running over little old ladies while struggling to control your car (of course complete with a manual transmission) the experience has its silly rewards. Given the likely polarizing nature of the game’s controls Manual Samuel gets a highly conditional recommendation. If you’re willing to roll with the punches, there’s definitely a unique good time to be had here, just be very aware of its intent to make controlling just about anything more challenging than you’d ever imagine.
Manual Samuel sets out to make sure you have an unusual but highly amusing time, and at that it succeeds every step of the way.
There are a few animation quirks, but for the most part the 2D style looks great and the games simple control scheme means almost anyone can pick it up. It’s just unfortunate that the momentum Manual Samuel builds in its earlier levels can’t be maintained for the entire course of the game.